Joey Mix was a fighter. After the Buffalo Grove boy completed his weekly spinal tap and bone marrow biopsy, the doctor would tell his parents to let Joey rest on a couch because he would be groggy all day. Instead, the 3-year-old would head right to his back yard to play baseball.
Joey had been diagnosed with leukemia in February 1996 during a routine checkup. He was starting his final round of heavy-duty chemotherapy, prior to beginning a two-year maintenance program, when he developed a cold, which turned into a rare form of pneumonia. Because the chemotherapy had weakened his immune system, Joey was unable to recover. He died in August 1996 at the age of 3 1/2.
Despite their grief over the loss of their little boy, Larry and Patty Mix sprang into action. They formed the Joey’s Angels chapter of the Lincolnwood-based Leukemia Research Foundation and began raising money.
Patty explained that working so hard on the chapter “is our way of survival.”
“It’s good therapy,” Larry said. “It has helped the time pass.”
The chapter’s first event, Angels in the Fairway Golf Outing, will be held Wednesday at the Midlane Country Club in Wadsworth.
Larry Mix said he had hoped to draw 200 golfers, although he was advised that he’d be lucky if 50 came to the first-time event. Instead, more than 400 people have registered for golf, and an additional 150 have signed up for the post-golf dinner. The event is expected to bring in more than $160,000. Larry estimated that about $80,000 of that will be donated to the foundation; the rest will cover expenses.
“This is the largest first-time chapter event we’ve ever had,” said Shannon Ryan, development officer of outreach for the Leukemia Research Foundation. “Other chapters might raise $6,000, $5,000, $10,000 in their first year.”
There is evidence of Joey everywhere in the bright, cheerfully decorated Mix home. In the living room, numerous photos showing a smiling, happy boy surround a lamp that is kept lit 24 hours a day in Joey’s memory. Statues of angels and a stack of baseball caps bearing the logo of Joey’s Angels–the chapter is named after the boy’s favorite movie, “Angels in the Outfield”–are also in evidence.
It is a house filled with love but overshadowed by incredible sadness. Six-year-old Alyssa smiles for a second as her grandmother Joan Mix who is visiting from Florida, remembers that Joey thought he looked like Michael Jordan after he lost his hair. Life goes on, but it will never be the same.
“He was the sweetest little boy, always happy, always trying to please everybody,” Patty recalled of her son.
“Everyone was confident that he was going to beat the thing,” Larry noted. “He was in remission within the first 28 days. They were all confident that he was going to be fine. Then all of a sudden, bam, it comes up and grabs you.”
Larry, who is a project manager for the F.H. Paschen/S.N. Nielsen Inc. construction company in Des Plaines, was looking for a way to thank everybody at his company for their kindness during Joey’s illness and after his death. He decided to create the Joey’s Angels baseball caps and give them to people at his office, as well as friends and relatives, who had helped his family.
One of his mother-in-law’s coworkers at Home Box Office in Rosemont, Andrew Givens, suggested that Larry stage a golf outing as a fundraiser for the Leukemia Research Foundation and offered to help him put it together. Around that time, the Mixes, with the aid of friends, formed the Joey’s Angels chapter. The event grew from there.
“Larry and Patty are good friends of ours,” said Jeff Porter of Kildeer, who has worked hard to help make the golf outing a success. “This is something I felt I had to do to help them cope with the loss of their son, Joey, and at the same time help with a good cause–raising money for leukemia research.”
All of the golfers will receive Joey’s Angels caps, plus Joey’s Angels knit golf shirts and golf balls with the logo. HBO donated $10,000, which helped defray expenses. Paschen is a presenting sponsor of the golf event, and Larry’s coworkers actively recruited golfers.
More than 100 prizes have been donated, including a jersey signed by Michael Jordan and 27-inch televisions. All of the printing, paper and graphics design work also were donated.
While Larry has been out promoting the event, Patty has been maintaining records and generating letters and reports. She is using a database designed for the couple by one of Larry’s friends from the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association. “We’ve been going at this thing since last January really hard,” Larry said.
Most of the money raised at the golf outing will be used to try to find a cure for leukemia. Patty noted that “81 cents of every dollar (donated) goes directly to either medical research, bone marrow drives or financial aid to patients. Most of it goes right to research, though.” The rest pays for administrative costs.
She added, “I’m glad everybody out there is willing to support finding the cause and hopefully a cure for leukemia. It makes you feel good that everybody’s willing to do something in Joey’s memory. Hopefully, one of our dollars raised will find a cure.”
Ryan of the Leukemia Research Foundation praised the Mixes. “After a loss like this, they could have chosen to turn (inward),” she said. “I think it takes tremendous strength and courage to turn outward and say, `We’re going to do something about this so that no other family has to go through this.’ “
Ryan noted that the couple have accomplished a great deal in a short time. “They bring a whole new audience to the foundation because their chapter is out in Buffalo Grove, and because Larry works in the construction industry,” she said. “He’s made a whole other group of people aware of leukemia: the need for funding for research, the importance of signing up to be a bone marrow donor.”
The golf outing will proceed despite another recent tragedy for the Mixes: the death of their newborn son.
Patty’s mother, Marge Mullen of Arlington Heights, isn’t surprised by the way in which her daughter and son-in-law responded to their tragedy. “I have never met two people who have such big hearts,” she said.
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The Angels in the Fairway golf outing on Wednesday is sold out, but contributions to the chapter are being accepted: Joey’s Angels/Leukemia Research Foundation, 1081 Belmar Lane, Buffalo Grove, Ill. 60089. For information, call the foundation at 847-982-1480.
