Firefighter Support

It was November 2020.

Boston firefighter Dan Ranahan had a cough, a fever, and a newborn at home. Naturally, he and his wife suspected he’d contracted COVID and began taking all the precautions.

Yet the COVID test at the doctor's office was negative. His symptoms didn’t improve. Within two weeks, he knew why.

At age 30, Ranahan was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma, and his battle began.

Ranahan’s story is one of struggle and triumph, and it’s not entirely over. But he made it this far because his brothers and sisters at the Boston Fire Department rallied around him.

He chose to repay their kindness by paying it forward again and again. In 2021, Ranahan founded the Boston Fire Cancer Foundation to support any Boston firefighter facing a job-related cancer diagnosis. 

In March, Fire Department Coffee and our customers will honor Ranahan’s fight and his mission of helping others by making the Boston Fire Cancer Foundation the beneficiary of all funds raised in March through our Fire Dept. Coffee Club and Fire Dept. Shirt Club.

For every Fire Dept. Coffee Club subscription or individual purchase, we’ll give the foundation $2. For every Fire Dept. Shirt Club subscription or individual shirt purchased, the foundation will receive $5.

March is a big month in Boston, a town with a proud Irish heritage, and the excitement peaks with the massive St. Patrick’s Day parade. Our coffee and our shirt design celebrate the fervor with an Irish Cream coffee that’s naturally flavored that we’ve dubbed “Luck’s Got Nothing to Do With It.”

The foundation has the full support of Boston Firefighters and the more than 3,500 active and retired firefighters it represents.

“Just riding on Danny’s coattails and all the great work that he’s done,” Union president Sam Dillon said. “Cancer is indiscriminate, but when we started to take a hard look at it, we realized it was discriminating against Boston firefighters and our families. Anything we can do to support these initiatives, we’re 100% behind.”

‘The Cancer Journey Was a Whirlwind’

When Ranahan’s cough and fever still lingered two weeks after his negative COVID test, doctors ordered a chest X-ray. When the results came in, they called and told him to go in for a CT scan, which revealed a mass the size of a coconut in his chest.

Hodgkin lymphoma is a type of blood cancer that originates in the lymphatic system, which is part of your body's immune system.

Over the next two weeks, the cancer spread from his chest cavity all the way to his kneecaps. He had a biopsy on a Tuesday — stage 4 — and he began chemotherapy on Thursday.

“You always hear it’s going to happen — on this job, especially,” he said. “You never expect it at 30 years old to have your life flash before your eyes.”

Ranahan has worked for Ladder 4 in Roxbury for 10 years, and he is deeply embedded in the Boston Fire Department family. His father is a firefighter. His brother, too.

When he was diagnosed, the firefighting community came to his rescue, supporting him and his family in every way possible.

“The cancer journey was a whirlwind,” Ranahan said. “The support I received from this job was incredible. People were shoveling snow, helping my wife with anything she needed. It made such a huge difference, especially with the newborn.”

Ranahan completed his final chemotherapy treatment in 2021, and the department made a massive celebration out of it. They brought apparatus from the station outside the window of his treatment room. Sirens wailed, lights flashed. When we made his way home, it was a regular parade down his street.

Later, when reflecting on the incredible support he’d received, Ranahan and his wife couldn’t help but think about another firefighter with cancer. He was a new firefighter, and he didn’t have the same ties to the department or years-long friendships within the first responder community. That firefighter was supported by the department, but there was no mistaking that he didn’t receive the same level of attention that Ranahan received.

So the Ranahans made the decision to create the Boston Firefighter Cancer Foundation with the goal of ensuring that any Boston firefighter facing the same type of battle that he faced could expect the same type of support he received.

Today, Ranahan is in remission yet the effects of chemotherapy have affected his heart and lungs to the point where he hasn’t been able to return to work. Meanwhile, six Boston firefighters are waging their fight against cancer. They have the full support of the foundation.

“We started raising money to take any daily stresser away from anyone — transportation, meals, financial support,” Ranahan said. “We’ve found every little bit is helping. We’ve also developed a partnership with Dana Farber Cancer Institute, which gives our firefighters fast access to world-class care.”

‘This is All About the Fight’

Boston is a fighting city. And we mean that in the best way possible.

The city — and especially the Boston Fire Department — is made up of tough men and women who stand up for each other. For all the talk about the “luck of the Irish,” the reality is that tough people make their own luck whenever possible.

So, as we thought about how to capture the spirit of the Boston Fire Department for March’s Fire Dept. Coffee Club and Fire Dept. Shirt Club, we kept coming back to that reality.

The result is “Luck’s Got Nothing to Do With It,” and we tapped into the Irish heritage and the fighting spirit that is celebrated across Boston throughout March and all year long. 

The Irish Cream coffee packs a punch like a Boston Jake, the local nickname for city firefighters. It’s naturally flavored with smooth, sweet vanilla and hints of caramel in every sip. The design on the bag depicts a Boston firefighter, shirtless but sporting a firefighter’s helmet and a pair of boxing gloves. He’s surrounded by shamrocks, and we threw in an FDC tattoo on his chest for good measure.

The same design is sprawled big and bold across the back of the green T-shirt, while the Boston Fire Department logo adorns the shirt’s front breast.

So, if you make it to Boston for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade this year, you’re likely going to see this shirt. Raise your mug to the men or women you see wearing it. They’re in the fight. 

The easiest way to join them is to join the Fire Dept. Coffee Club or the Fire Dept. Shirt Club.

“This is all about the fight. We’re not taking it easy, and we’re not hanging back while people get sick,” Dillon said. “This rowdy bunch of Boston firefighters got together, and we’re fighting cancer.”

Update: Your Support Makes a Difference

Thanks to your support we were able to donate $6,863 to the Boston Firefighter Cancer Foundation. This donation will help Boston firefighters get the support they need while battling cancer. We are grateful for your unwavering support and honored to make this meaningful contribution.

No firefighter has an easy job.

Every department asks its members to sacrifice and accept risks on behalf of the community it serves. Yet some departments, by necessity, ask a little bit more of their firefighters. 

Las Vegas is the perfect example.

Fire Dept. Coffee finally has its own firetruck. And not just any truck. It’s a brand new, fully loaded Rosenbauer Avenger that will be ready to respond with humanitarian relief during emergencies and natural disasters.

The Fire Dept. Coffee Foundation is honored to show our support for the Firefighter Cancer Support Network with a donation of $5,000 to help continue its incredible work.

Alex Bourque went to the orthopedist for knee pain. Maybe a strained ligament, he thought. The actual diagnosis strained his entire world. Cancer? It seemed impossible. He was 25 years old. He fought fires for a living and came home to his young family — a wife and a 3-year-old son and another baby boy on the way.

As firefighters, our job is to look out for everyone else, to make sure they are safe and protected and to be there when emergencies arise. 

That’s why we appreciate it even more when there are people and organizations looking after us. So the Fire Dept. Coffee Foundation is honored to contribute $1,000 to the New Jersey Firefighters Mutual Benevolent Association.

The NJFMBA is a passionate advocate for firefighters, EMTs and dispatchers, and a major part of their mission is to help protect the health and safety of first responders.

Our contribution will specifically support the Mark Virag Memorial Cancer Fund, created to honor the NJFMBA’s former sergeant at arms, who lost his battle with cancer in 2015. The fund will be used to provide needed financial support to those diagnosed with cancer to help them and their families through their own fights against cancer.

Beyond working for firefighters at local, state and federal levels, the NJFMBA also offers a vast range of resources to help individuals and families dealing with the physical and emotional effects that such a demanding career can create. The NJFMBA offers Critical Incident Stress Management to help prevent or mitigate the post-traumatic stress reactions that can be caused by on-the-job experiences.

The organization also offers a peer assistance program that helps first responders find the necessary help and intervention to deal with issues like substance abuse, eating disorders, smoking, gambling and other everyday stress issues.

And the NJFMBA organizes charitable events, including its annual Fallen Heroes 5K Memorial Run, to support important causes that benefit first responders in need, as well as their families. The organization also raises funds for individuals in need and supports scholarship programs that honor fallen firefighters and help provide for the education of first responders’ family members.

Organizations like the NJFMBA represent the true heart and sense of community that draws so many of us into the fire service, and we are honored to help support them in their many important efforts.

If you’re reading this, chances are that someone you know has faced a cancer diagnosis and the difficult battle that follows.

If you’re a firefighter, the chances are even greater because firefighters face a higher rate of cancer diagnosis than the average person. 

It’s why our foundation is proud to have contributed $5,000 to support the important work of the Firefighter Cancer Support Network. This incredible organization holds a special place in our hearts because of the help they offered to one of our own.

Our chief roaster and retired fire captain, David McWilliams, served in the fire service for 35 years. In 2018, he was diagnosed with advanced malignant melanoma. The Firefighter Cancer Support Network provided Dave with a mentor who could share their own experiences fighting cancer and be a shoulder for Dave to lean on. 

The network also supported Dave with a “toolkit” care package of useful information and supplies to guide him through his journey of fighting cancer, a battle that we’re happy to say Dave is winning.

But it’s a battle that he will continue to fight, alongside countless other firefighters across the country and around the world. Research from the CDC and the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety shows that firefighters face a 9% higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer than the average person — and a 14% higher risk of dying from cancer.

Cancer caused 61 percent of the career firefighter line-of-duty deaths from January 1, 2002, to March 31, 2017, according to data from the International Association of Fire Fighters. 

That’s why the Firefighter Cancer Support Network is so important. It’s now in its 15th year of fulfilling its mission to help fire/EMS members and their families cope with cancer and to provide occupational-cancer awareness and prevention training nationwide.

We are honored to stand beside them in this fight.