I have had the privilege of knowing Chris Thornton and his family for a long time, through his refereeing and work with the Hancock County Sheriff's Department. I called his daughter's games when she attended Mount Desert High School. Thus, I wasn't surprised when I saw the Facebook posting on Wednesday morning.

Chris has been a police officer for 28 years, and a referee for 20 years. As a referee he has traveled the state of Maine and as a police officer seen things that give him nightmares. He may look tough on the outside, but there's not a more compassionate individual

According to Chris:

On my way to officiate a basketball game, I got a call from Lurena Perry that started with, “I have an idea.” Nothing good ever follows. The proposal? Raise money for the family allowing them to focus on what’s most important! Of course I’m in! The plan? Play on fans’ unwavering “affection” for officials by auctioning off the chance to throw a pie in an official’s face. The official? Wait, what?

He was asked if he would take a pie to the face, in front of the crowd at Narraguagus High School at some point during the Narraguagus-Shead boys' basketball game, to help raise funds for the family of 2-year-old Isaac, who is fighting leukemia.

As you can see from the video and photo, Chris willingly did!

More than $700 was collected to help the family. If you want to contribute to the GoFundMe page, here is the link.  As you can see there's been a lot of money raised but the family has many battles ahead of them, and there's a lot of travel and expenses from Washington County to Bangor and Boston, and I'm not sure if there's medical insurance.

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Mainers take care of Mainers and those they love! I've constantly witnessed this in the 40 years I've lived in this great State.

Now, if you know Chris Thornton, you know he loves to tease firefighters! It's the friendly rivalry between police and firefighters. So Chris if you want to do a similar fundraiser or something else to give your firefighter "friends" the opportunity to pie you, or something else, just let me know...I'll be there to take the photos!

And the next time you're inclined to yell at the ref for what you perceive to be a "bad call", remember Chris Thornton and all the other refs who also are donating their checks each year to help raise money to fight cancer.

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