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Special space created for Elma boy battling cancer

Special Spaces Buffalo renovated a room for an Elma boy who is battling cancer.

ELMA, N.Y. – We are celebrating Western New York with a special room makeover for Ben Stromecki. He's a boy from Elma who is battling stage four brain cancer.

The group Special Spaces Buffalo did the makeover last week. Friday night, we talked with Ben's dad, David, about what the community support means to his family.

The room the group chose to renovate was originally Ben Stromecki's baby room.

"The walls were yellow, and then it was kind of our collect-all room where we just piled stuff," said Ben’s dad, David.

The Special Spaces team finds out what a child's interests are and creates a dream bedroom or place to hang out. Ben, 12, is an avid hunter, so naturally, the volunteers took that theme and ran with it.

"They came in about 3 o'clock on Friday, kicked us out, and we came back about 7 o'clock Saturday night," says David. "We knew obviously they were going to put the mounts up, but other than that, we had no idea what they were going to do. We were awestruck. We still are. Ben has a cabin in the house," says David.

Ben and his family are discovering new details every day - from the fishing gear to the photos and the red stag and ram from Ben's hunting trip last year with Jim Kelly and Ben Roethlisberger.

“We're blessed because the two mounts were donated, and all the taxidermy. It's by Jim Block. It's pretty cool," says David. "There's so many people that we know, and the ones we don't know, and we wanted to say thank you, and to show off this space that it's just incredible."

The last few months have been challenging. The cancer returned in September, Ben just started another round of chemo, and he had eye surgery this week.

"Anything we can do to move forward and keep a smile on his face. That's what we're trying to do. It's all about Ben," says Ben’s dad.

The Stromeckis want to make new memories to add to this special room. Ben's already been approved to do a hog hunt in Louisiana when he's healthy enough to travel.

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