Frankfort Family Honored at Taste of Orland Park 2019

ORLAND PARK, IL (August 6, 2019) --- The Taste of Orland Park 2019 included an especially poignant moment for a Frankfort family.

Members of the Beatles cover band, American English, called the Grobmeier family to the stage to watch Paul McCartney (Eric Michaels) perform the song “Blackbird” during their Sunday, August 4 performance.

Cyndi and Frank Grobmeier, along with their daughter, Sam, watched as Michaels performed the last song that Sam sang to her younger sister before she died June 30, 2019.

Maddie Grobmeier died from an acute asthma attack the day after her 18th birthday.

“Our girls grew up listening to the Beatles and we had been taking them to see American English at the Taste since they were small,” Cyndi Grobmeier said. “My husband emailed the band to let them know what happened and they invited us backstage. We didn’t know that they were going to call us onto the stage for the song,” she said smiling.

“Maddie and I grew up on The Beatles – it was honestly the core of our music taste ever since we were little,” Sam Grobmeier said. “When one of the music therapists at the hospital started playing ‘Blackbird’ on her guitar, it felt like fate. A month earlier, I had gotten a blackbird tattoo because that song meant so much to me. When I explained this to the music therapist once she started playing that particular song out of nowhere, she asked if I wanted to sing it to Maddie.”

“I’ve been singing my whole life and Maddie was always my number one supporter of everything I did with music and my career,” Sam Grobmeier said. “I knew that singing to her in some of her last moments would mean so much to her and to me. This song was fate and it means so much more to me now than ever before. I will carry this song with me forever.”

The Maddog Strong Foundation

To remember Maddie and to educate the public on the importance of organ donation, the Grobmeier family has created The Maddog Strong Foundation in Maddie’s memory.

“We created The Maddog Strong Foundation to inspire teens to have that conversation about their decision to be an organ and tissue donor with family and friends,” Grobmeier said. “Don’t just check the box – have the conversation.”

In March, 2019, Maddie Grobmeier survived a serious rollover car crash.

She told her parents, “If something like this ever happens to me again and I don’t make it, promise me that you’ll donate my organs so something good can come from tragedy.”

Maddie’s organ donations saved three people. Her heart and liver were gifted to the same recipient, and her lungs will inform research with her tissue donations improving the lives of dozens of others.

Champion Gymnast

A student, competitive gymnast, Maddie Grobmeier studied and competed with Gym-Kinetics in Mokena for 16 years where she earned the moniker “Maddog.”

Maddie held her college signing at Gym-Kinetics where she was named gymnast of the year at the facility’s recent banquet.

“I can’t adequately explain how much Maddog meant to our team as a good example, a role model and as a team leader,” said Jim Frederickson, owner of Gym-Kinetics.

The 2019 Lincolnway East High School graduate had planned to compete in gymnastics for the University of Wisconsin LaCrosse and was slated to leave for college in August.

Only three in 1000 people die in such a way that they can be organ donors. Eight lives can be saved by one donor and 20 people die every day waiting for organs.

“Everyone can donate tissue but there are specific criteria for organ donation,” Cyndi Grobmeier said. “There are 113,000 men, women and children on the waiting list for organs.”

Information about The Maddog Strong Foundation can be found at www.maddogstrong.org and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

“We’ve been blessed with the love and support of our family and many friends since Maddie died,” Cyndi Grobmeier said. “And, we know that other families have been blessed because of Maddie’s organ donations,” she said, adding, “This is why it’s so important to have this conversation now – so your family knows your decision to be a donor.”

Maddie Grobmeier is remembered for her friendly disposition, outgoing personality and having a positive impact on the many lives she touched, always encouraging everyone around her.

“I have been lucky to have coached so many really good kids who have accomplished so many great things. I’ve had state, regional and national champs, national team members, 30 scholarships and girls who competed around the world and they all made me so proud,” Frederickson said. “I can honestly say with all those great gymnasts I have coached in the past, I have never had a gymnast that was a better person than Maddog.”

The holy card from Maddie Grobmeier’s wake included a photo of Maddie at a Gym-Kinetics competition with one of her favorite quotes that she used to close her senior speech at the Gym-Kinetics Banquet.

The card reads, “The sky is the limit. Your sky, your limit.” – Maddog