South Buffalo Volunteer Fire Department’s third annual tractor pull will benefit a local 12-year-old who was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy.

The fire department accepted about a dozen nominations for local families in need who could be helped by the event. Erin Pflueger, a member of the fire department who helps organize the event, said they would know the right fit when they saw it.

Taylor Roles, a sixth grader at Freeport Middle School, was the perfect fit.

Taylor was diagnosed last year with a rare form of epilepsy known as febrile infection related epilepsy, or FIRES. It is an extremely rare condition that affects about one in 1 million children, according to the Epilepsy Foundation.

Last summer, she was a perfectly healthy child, said her mother, Kimberly. Then, on July 23, Taylor developed a fever. The next day, she began having seizures and was taken by ambulance to Children’s Hospital.

The next day, she was put in a medically induced coma.

Taylor underwent two brain operations while she was in a coma. She was on palliative care, and doctors began preparing her family for the worst scenarios.

“Scientifically, it was likely she would never wake up or remain in a vegetative state,” her mother said.

Taylor woke up that week.

The road to recovery was difficult, as Taylor went through months of rehabilitation.

“She had to relearn how to hold her head up, how to talk and walk, how to eat,” Pflueger said.

Roles said her daughter did suffer some brain injury, but it was not as significant as what some children with FIRES have. Taylor always will have severe epilepsy.

“She’s really doing a lot better,” her mother said.

She recently returned to school in the special education life skills program, where she must be accompanied by a nurse, Pflueger said. She takes seven different medications daily in an effort to control her seizures.

Community support unexpected, uplifting

Having the community rally behind her with this benefit event means a lot to the family, Roles said. It not only helps alleviate financial concerns, but she said it reminds the Roles family they aren’t alone.

“The community support is something that was unexpected to us. It was endearing. It was humbling. It definitely warmed our hearts,” she said. “It had Taylor very excited to be famous. She’s very excited about it.”

This isn’t the family’s first experience with the fire department’s benefit events. In 2019, Taylor joined her youth cheerleading squad to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the fire department’s first benefit tractor pull, which rallied community support for 6-year-old Ella Conroy, a little cheerleader who was battling cancer.

The day Taylor was taken to the hospital, she was wearing an Ella’s Army shirt from that event, her mother said.

During the inaugural benefit truck and tractor pull, the fire department raised $30,000 for Ella. Last year, they raised $46,000 in honor of a department friend who helped organize the first event, with proceeds benefiting his daughter.

This year’s event, like past benefits, will feature a car show, along with the truck and tractor pulls.

The all-day event is slated for Saturday, Oct. 16 — a special date for the Roles family.

“They scheduled this event for the anniversary of her waking up,” Roles said.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)