Nazareth's No. 1 fan finally overcomes fear of firefighters

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/nazareth/index.ssf/2012/08/nazareths_no_1_fan_overcomes_f.html FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES Firefighters are often viewed as courageous heroes who save lives, but Andy Weaver saw them as monsters. The 27-year-old Upper Nazareth Township man suffers from cerebral palsy, hardly speaks and is mostly confined to a wheelchair. At a pep rally in February at Nazareth Area High School, he walked for the first time, drawing cheers from those who gathered in the high school gym to watch him do it. But he couldn’t shake his fear of firefighters, one that only got worse when he was in college and a fire started in his dorm, said Diana Back, Weaver’s aide of three years. Weaver posted his fears on Facebook after the Upper Nazareth Township Fire Department drove past his home on its way to a recent call, and junior firefighter Tricia Fassl told her dad, fire department President Jeff Fassl.