Fundraiser to benefit child with rare medical condition scheduled for Sunday

PALMER— When Brandon “Beemer” Wiehe was one month old, he was diagnosed with chronic granulomatous disease, a rare medical condition that affects his immune system.

“It was my first child and then I hear that…,” his mother, Carly Wiehe, said.

If left untreated, his life expectancy would barely reach into adulthood, according to Wiehe. That’s why she is hosting an auction fundraiser Sunday night in Palmer, to help cover the various expenses they will encounter in Seattle, Washington, to peruse the only cure option for Brandon.

“I was put on this earth for this child, hands down. This is my mission in life,” Wiehe said.

Sunday, starting at 4 p.m., there will be a beneficial auction for Brandon at the Palmer Moose Lodge. There will be a live and silent auction as well as a taco bar and desert table. Wiehe said there will be about 30 items in the live auction and just over 100 items in the silent auction.

She said there will be a lot of local, handcrafted items and artwork as well as a, “wall of guns,” and gift baskets with a variety of themes up for auction. She said all the money raised will help cover expenses for Brandon’s bone marrow transplant, the only known cure for CGD.

“If it works, he will absolutely be cured,” Wiehe

Before Brandon got his diagnosis, he had a really high fever with swollen lymph nodes. Since the disease is so rare, finding an answer wasn’t easy.

“It baffled a couple doctors for sure,” Wiehe said.

She said that she saw several doctors and lucked out by finding the one doctor in the state who was able to figure out what it was. She said that doctor worked with the only other family in the state who had CGD. She also found out that she was a carrier and was the one who passed it onto her son. She said that’s why she doesn’t plan on having any more children.

“That was absolutely by far the hardest day of my life,” Wiehe said.

Wiehe is a single mother. She said that she’s going to miss a lot of work while they’re down in Seattle. She said that she’s going to have to stay close to the hospital and will have to rent an apartment until the Ronald McDonald House has an opening. She said that the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is about $2,600 a month.

Brandon Matthew Wiehe got the nickname Beemer from the fact his initials are BMW. Wiehe said that he’s always been an active, go-getter kid.

“He’s so adorable and he’s such a handful,” Wiehe said with a laugh.

Wiehe created a website for her son, which has a GoFundMe link. For more information or to make donations, see beemersbmt.com.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at Jacob.mann@frontiersman.com.