Super Cooper Saves the Day helps children with cancer, in memory of inspirational boy
Tara Busch, of Chenango Bridge, still remembers the crowds of supporters who showed up to a benefit for her son, Cooper, who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.
“Everybody I ever knew was there,” she said. “It was shoulder to shoulder.”
Sadly, her son Cooper, known as Super Cooper, died at the age of 4 in 2018. But his memory lives on through the charitable projects done through Super Cooper Saves the Day. The nonprofit organization helps children with cancer and other needs with projects such as a back-to-school shoe shopping drive; collecting gifts for children with cancer on his birthday; and building a playground named in his honor in Chenango Bridge.
Cooper was born with Down syndrome, but he never let his diagnosis get him down, his mother said.
“Cooper had this magical power about him where he could reach into people’s souls and make them happy,” she said.
He was known for his smile and the way he brightened the lives of everyone he met, his mother said. During a family vacation to Wildwood, New Jersey, before his illness, Cooper walked the boardwalk with his family, smiling and making friends with passersby.
“He kept touching people as he walked by,” she recalled. “He would make eye contact with them, and their faces would light up.”
His upbeat spirit never dimmed even after his diagnosis with acute myeloid leukemia, which is more prevalent in people with Down syndrome, his mother said. She is still amazed at the support Cooper and his family got from the community.
“Everybody wanted to do something to help him because they felt such a connection to him,” she said. “People were dropping off meals and dropping off gifts, and just reaching out to see what they could do to help.”
That’s why Tara and her husband, Steve, decided to start Super Cooper Saves the Day after Cooper’s death.
“After getting so much help from other people, I wanted to do something to give back and help,” she said.
More Giving Back: Vestal teen takes the initiative, holds neighborhood food drive for CHOW
More Giving Back: All Animals Matter helps owners spay and neuter pets, and control feral cats
More: By any other name, Shakespeare Club of Whitney Point has celebrated the Bard for 100 years
Every November, the organization collects gifts for Cooper’s birthday on Nov. 26. This year, he would have turned 8. The Busches' dining room table was piled high with boxes of gifts that were donated to Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital in Syracuse, where Cooper was treated.
During back to school time, the group raises money for gift cards to pay for new shoes for students who need them, Tara Busch said.
“I felt really sad that I wasn’t going to buy him school shoes,” she said of Cooper. “So I decided to buy shoes for other kids.”
All the projects help keep Cooper’s memory alive and help his parents cope with his loss, Tara Busch said.
“The reason we do this is to help us through our grief,” she said. “It’s really therapeutic for me and for my husband.”
But Super Cooper Saves the Day couldn’t do what it does without the support of local residents who donate gifts and money in Cooper’s memory, she said.
“This community does a really good job of taking care of each other,” she said. “It really is heartwarming that people care.”
Tara Busch
Hometown: Castle Creek.
Residence: Chenango Bridge.
Family: Husband, Steve. Son, Cole, 11; and daughter, Hope, 4.
Career: Sixth-grade teacher at Binghamton’s West Middle School.
How to help: Find out about community service projects done in memory of Cooper Busch by going on Facebook to Super Cooper Saves the Day.
To learn more: Two books have been written about Cooper Busch: “Super Cooper Saves the Day,” by Russell Richardson, and “Super Cooper Makes Everyone Smile” by Cooper’s mother, Tara Busch, with illustrations done by Russell Richardson. Some proceeds from the book sales benefit Super Cooper Saves the Day. Both books are available on Amazon.com
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Super Cooper Saves the Day helps kids with cancer and other needs
