Dad Carries The Weight For Daughter Battling Leukemia

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The coincidence of the date was too good to pass up. Justin Grimm of St. Louis Park signed up to participate in "The Big Climb," a fundraising effort for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Minnesota.

The event takes place Saturday, just one day before Grimm's 4-year-old daughter Charlotte undergoes her final treatment for leukemia. She was diagnosed in 2010, when she was just 2-and-a-half.

But it won't just be Justin and supporters going up the 57 floors of Fifth Street Towers Saturday. Grimm is taking on added weight. For every $100 he raised for the climb, he's adding one pound of weight to carry. So far, he's raised $5,300 dollars meaning an additional 53 pounds.

Grimm says he was originally planning on carrying Charlotte up the stairs.

"Not very safe on concrete stairs to carry a 4-and-a-half-year-old up 57 flights of stairs," Grimm said.

So, instead, he'll have a backpack with at least 53 pounds of additional weight. He says it's no sweat, considering what Charlotte's been through.

Grimm says his daughter is doing great.

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"She's expected to live a long, happy, healthy life," Gimm said. "The treatment, while it's been brutal, has come an absolutely long way. We're very, very pleased that we're not going to have to feed her any more chemo."

Instead of going up Tower 2 of the Fifth Street Towers on her dad's back, Charlotte will be waiting for him at the top.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Big Climb For Cures will be Saturday, April 21 at 8 A.M. at the Fifth Street Towers in Downtown Minneapolis. People wanting to participate can still register from 7:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Saturday.