Freddie loved superheroes. Ironman, Spiderman and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles just to name a few. You could say he also had his own superpowers. He was selfless, wise beyond his 5 years and a protecter to his little sister Hattie. Even when cancer overwhelmed his body and he neared the end of life, Freddie wanted to make sure he left a legacy worthy of a superhero.
Lymphoma diagnosis
Freddie was diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma at Children’s Minnesota on Thanksgiving weekend 2023. It’s a rare and fast-growing type of cancer. Further testing showed the cancer was stage 4, meaning it had spread throughout his body.
The recommended treatment plan was chemotherapy given in cycles over eight months. The first cycle went downhill fast. Freddie came down with a serious infection and had to spend several days in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). He was able to recover and resume chemotherapy. But then a PET scan halfway into treatment — when the cancer should have been in remission — found a small amount of cancer cells remained in his bone marrow. This meant his cancer was very resistant to the chemotherapy given so far. For Freddie’s care team and his parents Lauren and Mike, it meant they needed to look at different treatment options.
Lauren and Mike took Freddie to Colorado for a couple months so he could be part of a clinical trial. Test results during the treatment showed the amount of cancer in his body was going down. However, some of the cancer cells were still resistant. This meant the cancer was not responding well enough for the treatment to be effective for Freddie.
Moving to palliative care
Lauren and Mike returned to Children’s Minnesota, ready to try a different type of chemotherapy for Freddie. But the cancer was just spreading too fast.
After talking with their oncologist and the Pain, Palliative and Integrative Medicine team, Lauren and Mike made the emotional decision to bring Freddie home on palliative care.
Before leaving the hospital, Freddie did a round of radiation therapy to slow down the cancer’s growth.
“I’m very grateful that we did [radiation] because it gave us three to four weeks at home of really, really good quality family time,” Lauren said.
Legacy building
After Freddie was back at home, the family had visits from Margaret Monson, a child life specialist in the Pain, Palliative and Integrative Medicine Program. Margaret provides support to families when a child has a serious illness or is not expected to recover. One way she does that is by promoting legacy building for patients who move to hospice care, which Freddie did. The legacies are personalized to each child’s and family’s wishes.
“Even very young children want to know that they have left a mark and want to be remembered,” Margaret explained. “Some kids focus their legacy project on giving back to their family, others really want to make a mark on society, in their school or in their neighborhood.”
Finding Freddie's legacy
During Margaret’s visits, she got to know the family. She saw Freddie playing with his toys — many of them superhero themed. There were also many unopened toys that Freddie had received during his cancer treatment. She watched his little sister Hattie run around in her princess dresses. And she listened to Mike and Lauren talk about how they enjoyed going on walks around the neighborhood as a family. Many of the homes had little libraries in the front yard. But Freddie always wondered why none of the libraries had any books for kids. Then one day in July 2024, they got the idea. Freddie’s legacy would be a little lending library filled with toys and children’s books.
“One of Freddie’s goals was that he wanted other kids to be able to play with the toys he didn’t get to play with. He also wanted to teach other kids how important it is to share their toys,” Margaret said.
To make sure Hattie was involved too, Lauren and Mike came up with the idea to surround the library with a princess superhero garden.
Later that same day, Freddie passed away.
“At the risk of probably sounding like every dad, he was just a fantastic kid,” Mike said. “He was a very kind and selfless kid who would always let others go first. He was always up for an adventure.”
Generosity helps build Freddie’s legacy
Once Freddie’s legacy project was decided, Margaret had to find someone who could build it. She was not a carpenter and had not worked on a legacy project like this before. Fortunately, she asked around in her community and found Mike Pangborn, a lawyer who had taken up woodworking as a hobby. Not only did Michael donate his time and skill but also the materials to build the library.
Once she found someone to build the library, Margaret focused on the princess superhero garden. She was able to buy items to fill the garden thanks to the generosity of Children’s Minnesota donors.
“My ability to support families through end-of-life journeys, bereavement and work on legacy projects like Freddie’s is possible because of our donors,” Margaret said.
Legacy dedication
In May 2025, Freddie’s little lending library was ready to be installed. Lauren stenciled the front with “Freddie’s Fun House” and painted superhero faces inside. As a family, they filled the shelves with children’s books and toys.
“Margaret really took the idea and ran with it,” Lauren said. “It means a lot that we could do more and give back in a way that meant something to Freddie and something that he enjoyed doing for other kids in the neighborhood.”
