Minnesota girl battling cancer gets special Christmas surprise

CRYSTAL, Minn. (FOX 9) - An early Christmas surprise came Sunday for a family that needs a little love.

Ruby Streefland is battling cancer, so the organization called "Best Christmas Ever" stopped by to brighten their spirits.

At a home in Crystal, the rescue rigs aren’t just racing toward a family, they’re uplifting it. All for the girl behind a window -- Ruby Streefland, a girl too sick with cancer to come outside.

"Ruby is the strongest girl I know," said Ruby's aunt Angela Lutz. "She’s amazing. She wants so badly to be able to do everything that 14 year olds do and it’s just not possible right now."

It’s not the first time the community has rallied around Ruby and her family. Two years ago, police and firefighters then rescued her spirits after she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer.

She then, too, developed leukemia and recovered. Two years later, the leukemia is back but so are Crystal’s first responders along with the Twins TC the Bear, and the organization called Best Christmas Ever.

"The mission is to help families that have fallen on tough times through no fault of their own, through an illness or some other tragic event that they couldn’t plan for," explained Best Christmas Ever Team Captain Steven Pricco.

In this case, gifts for Ruby and family, and something extra... a check to pay the bills. All because childhood cancer affects the entire family.

"The hardest thing about being a parent and an adult is not being able to fix it for her or change it, it’s heartbreaking," said Lutz.

But at least this holiday season, the Streeflands know they don’t have to battle this alone.