KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A Lawrence father who made headlines in 2022 for jumping a fence to save a drowning 4-year-old is now asking the community for help as he battles cancer that has left him paralyzed.
In 2022, KCTV shared the story of a father and son, Thomas and Maddox Westerhaus, who worked together to save a boy who had been underwater at an apartment complex pool for over three minutes.
At the time of Thomas’s heroic act, he was dealing with his own major health challenges, which were unknown to many. Just weeks before the rescue, Thomas had undergone lung surgery for his battle with cancer.
He has been battling cancer for the past decade. In July of 2025, Thomas’s cancer spread to his spine, paralyzing him from the chest down. He is now wheelchair bound.
Without a wheelchair accessible van, Thomas is unable to go anywhere except to his doctors’ appointments when medical transportation picks him up. His family is now calling on the community to step up and change his life…