Rapper Eminem Goes Soft for Dying Teen

Gage Garmo is losing his battle with bone cancer. The Rochester Hills community has rallied around the 17-year-old with donations to his family and other shows of support, including arranging for a meeting with his idol, rapper Eminem. (Photo via Twitter)

UPDATE: Gage Garmo has lost has battle with cancer. READ MORE HERE.

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Gage Garmo vowed to crush Osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer he was diagnosed with in 2010, with the same determination he’s approached every other endeavor of his brief life.

And he did it with a grace that inspires those who know him. Friends say that even as the 17-year-old Rochester High School senior struggled through painful surgeries, chemotherapy and amputation of a leg that had carried him across the football field wearing jersey No. 32, he hid his own pain to spare theirs.

He beat the cruel disease that claims about 900 lives annually four times, as he had vowed he would. But last week, doctors delivered heartbreaking news: The cancer had invaded Garmo’s lungs and was growing at an uncontrollable rate; he had about a week to live, WJBK-TV reports.

That meant friends who have been inspired by his courageous fight against the disease had about a week to convince rapper Eminem to make their friend’s dying wish come true. Eminem is Garmo’s idol, and he wanted to meet him before he dies.

They rallied friends and strangers on Twitter with the #GarmoStrong and #GetGageGarmoToMeetEminem hashtags. Eminem – an Oakland Township resident whose real name is Marshall Mathers – got wind of it, and the iconic rapper stopped by Garmo’s home Sunday, The Oakland Press reports.

“Mission accomplished. God bless this beautiful kid and thank you guys for all your hard work,” fellow Bad Meets Evil rapper Royce Da 5’9, who joined Eminem for the visit, wrote on his Instagram account, MTV reports.

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“The smile he had on his face when Eminem was sitting next to him was out of this world,” said Ingrid Todt, wish director for The Rainbow Connection, a group founded in 1980 that facilitates the wishes of Michigan kids who are fighting for their lives.

“His parents said they haven’t seen him smile like that in quite a while,” Todt said

“Same Old Gage”

If he hasn’t been smiling, Garmo has been good at putting on his game face.

“Gage was probably my biggest inspiration this year,” said football player Blake Fetterhoff. “We have helmet stickers with our numbers on them (football helmets) and I put his number 32 under my number on my helmet. He probably got me through this season. I couldn’t see this season without him.”

“It’s been hard seeing him going through this,” said Isabella Tan, a friend since the two shared a math class in sixth grade at Reuther Middle School. “He’s been fighting every day and never let it show. ... He’s acting like the same old Gage.”

The “same old Gage” doesn’t have an ounce of self-pity, said friend Tyler Goschnick.

“He was always so positive and that honestly kept us positive,” Goschnick said.

A YouTube video, posted as part of a fund-raising drive to help out Garmo’s family, offers insight into just how special this kid is – not just to those who knew him well, but to the entire community. One student went as far as to call him the most inspirational person ever to walk the halls of Rochester High School. Another said Garmo’s battle is a reminder of the fragility of life.

The GoFundMe campaign had raised nearly $27,500 to help Garmo’s family with medical expenses. “Gage’s family has never asked for anything other than warm thoughts and prayers,” the organizers of the campaign wrote. “The entire Senior Class of ‘15 wants to do more. Please join us by giving to the Garmo family.”

On Sunday, nearly 100 people waved yellow T-shirts out of cars painted with the #GarmoStrong hashtag in a parade past his residence to a fundraiser at a local Buffalo Wild wings restaurant. About $9,000 was raised between the two events.

On Monday evening, a candlelight vigil was planned at the high school football football stadium.

Below are some of the tweets from the #GarmoStrong campaign.