By THERESA HOGUE
Gazette-Times reporter | Posted: Tuesday, December 25, 2007 12:00 am
Ben Beekman will be stepping out in style on New Year's Eve. As the guest of honor at the second annual Firefighters' Ball at the Hilton Garden Inn, he wants to look his best and plans to wear a tuxedo.
"I'm not a frequent tux wearer," Beekman said, sitting in the living room of his parents' Corvallis home. "This will be the second time I've worn one."
In August, Beekman woke in his upstairs apartment on Tyler Avenue to find his bed - and himself - on fire. He escaped, but was severely burned and spent several months going through surgery and therapy at the Oregon Burn Center in Portland.
The New Year's Eve fundraiser, held by the Corvallis Professional Firefighters Charitable Fund, will benefit Beekman's medical fund. The event will include a raffle and silent auction, a dessert buffet and hors d'oeuvres, a live band and dancing, and lots of champagne and cocktails.
Corvallis paramedic Kevin Davis and his wife, Michelle, launched the first Fireman's Ball last year because they wanted a way to raise money for local charities. They teamed up with the firefighter union's charitable organization, which has nonprofit status, and raised money in 2006 for a number of local organizations.
"This year, we decided to switch it up because of Ben Beekman," Davis said. "His type of situation doesn't come up in Corvallis a whole lot and we need to do whatever we can to support this young man and his family."
Beekman, a Web and multimedia designer, lost almost all his belongings in the fire, including expensive computer equipment. He was so severely injured that he spent the first part of his recovery under sedation.
His recovery, however, was swifter than doctors expected, and he returned to Corvallis in October, and moved in with his parents, George and Susan Beekman.
Along with the firefighters' fundraiser, a number of other community events have helped raise money to pay for medical expenses not covered by Beekman's insurance, as well as help him replace some of the equipment he lost in the fire.
His family said they are incredibly grateful for the overwhelming community response to Beekman's injuries. They said they were hesitant to participate in the firefighters' ball because they were afraid they were taking attention away from other worthy causes, but Davis and others assured them that the firefighters wanted to make Beekman their priority this year.
"We'll always be grateful to the generous souls in this community for their gifts of cash, services and love during a very difficult time," George Beekman said.
Susan Beekman, Ben's mother, said her son's medical fund has received so many anonymous donations that she feels every time she's walking down the street she is probably passing someone who helped her family. She's also learned that communities of faith around the community, and the world, responded to her son's injuries with prayer circles and meditation.
"It really went through every faith," Susan said. "I heard about missionaries in Nepal and South Africa praying, and there was a radio show announcement in Hawaii, and I got a letter from someone in Germany who heard the Hawaiian radio show. It really is a small community."
Beekman, who is recovering at a fast clip, is still a little surprised by all the attention.
"It's kind of overwhelming in a way," he said. "It's a weird thing to get celebrity for. I'm accepting of it, but I don't think I did anything worthy of this attention."
Beekman spends much of his time doing physical and occupational therapy, integrated manual therapy, acupuncture and massage, all of which are aiding his healing process. He also wears compression garments on his chest and hands to help skin regrowth, and does a lot of special exercises to regain dexterity in his left side, especially in his hand, which is crucial to his career as a designer.
He's also been able to get back to DJing, his personal passion. He lost around $5,000 worth of records during the fire, but has some of his music backed up digitally, and has friends with similar music collections who are helping him. He's already done three shows on KBVR and is keeping his beat-matching skills sharp.
This holiday season, the immediate family is gathering together to celebrate and George Beekman said he believes his son's injuries have actually brought everyone closer.
"We ended up living three blocks from my daughter in Portland (while Ben was in the hospital) and now Ben's living with us," he said. "In that sense, the holiday season is much more of a family time than it has been in years."
For more information on Beekman, go to www.caringbridge.org.