Building Homes for Heroes pays off mortgage of Des Moines firefighter battling cancer

A nonprofit is paying off the mortgage of a veteran and long-time local firefighter who is battling cancer in Des Moines.

Building Homes for Heroes, a national nonprofit that helps build homes or pay off mortgages for veterans and first responders, reached out to Capt. Mike Broderick after hearing he was battling cancer, said Kimberly Vesey, president of the nonprofit.

The organization first heard about Broderick after a board member who works with Broderick at the Des Moines Fire Department brought his story up, Vesey said.

Broderick, who has stage 4 liver cancer, has been with the fire department for 16 years and served in the Army for about two decades.

“Mike has an incredible story of heroism,” Vesey said. “He’s the type of person that deserves our utmost respect and support.”

Helping veterans and first responders like Broderick is what the nonprofit is all about, Vesey said.

“For us to show Mike and his family how much we appreciate what they’ve done and the sacrifices they lived through for us to be safe is paramount to our existence,” Vesey said. “That’s why we do this. It’s really debt we owe them for what they’ve done for us.”

Broderick’s mortgage will be paid off entirely, Vesey said.

Tyler Mark, a local firefighter and board member with the nonprofit, said he has known Broderick for more than six years and has since become good friends.

“Mike is a quiet, humble and sincere individual that is always doing the right thing,” Mark said. “He is the person you depend on. He is strong both mentally and physically. He’s somebody that a lot of people look up to.”

Broderick, who Mark considers as a brother, has been a constant source of inspiration for many of the firefighters at the department, Mark said.

“Mike is very well deserving of this,” Mark said. “He has given his whole life protecting others and it’s really the smallest gesture we can do.”

Broderick wasn’t available for interview because of his illness, city officials said.

A video of Broderick and his wife, Emily Broderick, receiving the news from Mark was posted by the nonprofit online.

“I don’t know what to say,” Mike Broderick, in tears, says in the video. “It just means a lot to me, Tyler. I’m just grateful that there’s people are out there doing stuff like this.”

José Mendiola is a breaking news reporter for the Register. Reach him at jmendiola@dmreg.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Building Homes for Heroes pays off Des Moines firefighter’s mortgage