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Pinellas County brothers strive for their dreams after beating cancer

Posted at 3:21 PM, Jan 08, 2020
and last updated 2020-01-08 18:07:55-05

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The bond of brotherly love was taken to new heights this year. A Pinellas County brother was the only match in the entire country to help save his brother's life.

George Wamhoff was diagnosed with Leukemia this past year. His older brother Fritz said he's been through a lot.

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“George has definitely gone through the ringer, I couldn’t go through most of those things myself,” said Fritz. “Watching it day in and day out he was struggling at points and it was really sad.”

George, 18, was in need of a bone marrow transplant in order to survive. The only match in the entire country was his 20-year-old brother Fritz.

“He’s done so much for me my entire life, he was picking me up from school, he was walking me home, helping me with homework, he’s phenomenal,” said George.

After being in the hospital for seven months George is out of bed and eyeing a return to school.

This week, his family had lunch at The Avenue in St. Pete.

Each month they invite children facing life threatening diseases to have their burger of the month. Proceeds from that burger go toward the Children’s Dream Fund.

“We all have dreams, and we want to achieve them, and I wanted to get involved and I wanted to make a difference right here in our community,” said owner Stephen Schrutt.

Last month, Schrutt named the December burger in honor of his dad, who passed away earlier in the year. It was called the “Go Get’em.”

Schrutt said his dad inspired him to be the entrepreneur he has become and was always telling him to “Go Get’em.”

One dollar from each burger of the month sold goes toward the Children’s Dream Fund, which is currently on track to make 80 dreams come true this year.

George will be the recipient of one of those dreams, but he was more interested in making his brother’s dream come true.

“He saved my life, so I didn’t want to buy him a present. But I’m also paying him back, I’m taking him to Hawaii for his birthday, he’s going to be 21 we are going to have a lot of fun,” said George.

The whole family is set to make the trip in March.