Once there was a little boy named Michael Back, who dreamed of riding in a big red fire engine.

As cancer stole his life day by day, the 7-year-old spoke about his wish from his bed on the fifth floor of Wolfson Children's Hospital.

After they heard about it, Jacksonville firefighters paid him a visit. It was a day in early 2002 when the boy took a spin out of the cancer ward in a wagon to get a look at their apparatus outside the hospital.

There it was right in front of him: Engine 7. His dream, close enough to touch.

But fire Lt. Andy Graham couldn't figure out how to put Michael inside the pumper without dislodging the boy's medical equipment. The fire lieutenant promised him he'd get his ride soon.

A couple weeks later, Michael died before he got the chance. Still determined to deliver on the promise, Graham and other firefighters took the hoses off Engine 7 and carried the boy's coffin to its final resting place.

"They were devoted to him and I think it was a big help to him in the end," Michael's grandmother Linda Fromme said Thursday.

'It made you feel better'

While seven years have passed, the firefighters still remember Michael. They also honor his memory. Since he died, Graham and others have returned to Wolfson a few times a year to hold ice cream parties on the fifth floor for other children.

"Just give them a few minutes to forget their troubles" is how Graham, now retired from the fire service, explains the aim of the parties.

On Thursday, it seemed to be working. Parents and hospital workers wheeled some of the children into the party tucked under blankets in red Radio Flyer wagons. Some who could walk came with poles that had intravenous drip bags connected to them.

Then they had some choices to make. Would it be chocolate ice cream or vanilla or some other flavor? Would it be gummy worms or chocolate chips or more than a dozen other treats on top? For a few minutes, the children got to be in charge as they told the firefighters what to scoop for them.

"It made you feel better," said 11-year-old Dontriana Stukes as she left the party in a wheelchair with a bowl of ice cream in her lap.

"It's just something fun to do rather than stay in her room," said Jill Matejcek, who wheeled 4-year-old daughter Morgan to the party in a wagon.

The party brought back memories for Engine 7 Lt. Todd Smith and Engine 7 engineer Richard Barrett, who were among the firefighters on the original crew that visited Michael on the same floor.

"It was an eye-opening experience to be able to see that little boy," Barrett said.

He explained why they keep coming back like this: "I guess it's because, every time we come here - and we have small kids - we knew it could be us."

"It's cool to see it grow to what it is," said Smith. "... I think it's just a chance for them to get out of their routine stuff."

Bringing the party to ill kids

But that routine, for some of the children, meant not being healthy enough to leave their hospital rooms. So like they did for Michael, firefighters brought the party to them.

Fire Engineer Danny Fehr, from Ladder 21, arrived in 2-year-old Austin Chandler's room with a bowl of ice cream, a balloon and a plastic fire helmet for the tot.

Then Austin's mom, Melissa Hancock, told Fehr how firefighters had saved her son's life on the way to the hospital, where he had brain surgery after seizures made him stop breathing.

"Mommy, I can't do it," the toddler said, as he tried to spoon up strawberry ice cream.

"Is that so good?" she asked, after helping him.

"Yes," came his answer, soft but brave.

"He doesn't let nothing stop him," the mother said. "He just keeps going."

Just like the memory of another boy, one who dreamed of riding in a big red fire engine.

bridget.murphy@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4161