EAST SIDE — Calumet region residents are fundraising to uplift a clown who brought them joy for decades as she starts from “absolute zero,” following a house fire and amid a long battle with cancer.
Barbara Syler, who for decades performed as Barboo the Clown, survived an Aug. 12 fire at her East Side home that destroyed her kitchen and back porch. The effort to extinguish it left the rest of the home with water damage, while smoke and fire damage left many items unsalvageable, she said.
The fire took place as Syler undergoes immunotherapy and her third round of chemotherapy, continuing a battle with cancer that’s lasted nearly nine years…