Brandon Twp.- Robbie Williams, who inspired many local citizens as he battled Fanconi Anemia, died of complications from the disease June 24 at the University of Michigan Children’s Hospital.
He was 8-years-old.
A number of fundraisers last year enabled Robbie’s family to stay with him in Ohio as he received and recovered from a bone marrow transplant scheduled for December (‘He’s been a trooper,? The Citizen, Oct. 31, 2005).
Students and staff from Harvey Swanson Elementary School, where Robbie attended school before becoming homebound, were among donors for the family.
Helen Clemetsen, Harvey Swanson principal, remembers Robbie as a strong-willed, wonderful child, with a vibrant personality.
Robbie was diagnosed in December 2004 with Fanconi Anemia, a rare, inherited blood disease that leads to aplastic anemia? severe bone marrow failure.
Because of the disease, Robbie bruised easily. Clemetsen recalls that he wasn’t supposed to go outside and play because he could injure himself and hemorrhage, but she will never forget that Robbie’s father, Kevin Williams, would come up to the school every Tuesday and Thursday and walk with Robbie so he could participate in the Mileage Club, an exercise program for Harvey Swanson students. Robbie obtained two to three marathons in first grade.
‘It was quite remarkable for a little guy with a disease like that,? Clemetsen said. ‘He was so determined and so positive. I’ll always remember that about him? that he had such a positive attitude, even when he was down and out. He was excited about coming back to school, but he just never made it.?
Robbie was released from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center around Easter, but never returned to school.
Clemetsen said Robbie loved all the cards and letters he was sent.
‘We all feel so sad,? she said. ‘It just doesn’t seem fair for someone with so much life in him to be taken away so prematurely.?
The staff of Harvey Swanson plans to put money into the Harvey Swanson Elementary Scholarship Fund in Robbie’s name to benefit a graduating high school senior. The Parent Club will also make a donation to either the Rainbow Connection, which grants wishes to terminally or chronically ill children or the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund.
Besides his father, Robbie is survived by his mother, Brenda Carpenter; stepfather Mark Carpenter; brother Joshua Horton; grandmothers Claudia Williams and Judy Horton; great-grandmother Thelma Adcock; aunts and uncles Ken (Stacy) Williams; Beverly (Mike) D’Angelo; and Barbara Horton; and cousin Kaylene Farmar.
A funeral service was 11 a.m., June 29 at the Lynch & Sons Funeral Directors Bossardet Chapel, Oxford. Interment Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Oakwood.