In tougher times, F-M rallies around Garrett Grommesh again

If life were fair, there’d be more Hollywood endings.

Remember the Grommesh family of Moorhead? They were the recipients of a new home and tons of goodwill in their community when their story — Garrett, 13, has spina bifida — made it to ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover in 2010.

Today, the Fargo Forum checks back in with the family.

Garrett underwent the 54th surgery of his life at Children’s Hospital in Saint Paul yesterday. The 55th is today. Number 56 is next week.

“I think the hardest part about this (is) he’s just not the person anybody will ever remember,” his mother, Adair, says. “He’s just sitting there lifeless, wanting to give up.”

Things were going well until last November when it “all went to hell in a handbasket,” she said.

A family friend, Shannon Heick, who lives in West Fargo, is doing her part, organizing a card campaign to try to cheer the young man up.

“I’m a mom of three little boys, so I can’t imagine what they’re going through,” Heick said. “We can pitch in and get this word out and get Garrett a room full of cards and help him have some hope.”

“It was really fun to see the look on his face as the stack of mail arrived,” his mother wrote early this morning on the Caring Bridge site.