Latest Marquette Poll, Artist Portrays Chronically Ill Children As Heroes, How Dollar General Is Taking Over America

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• First Marquette University Poll Results Since August Primaries

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  Marquette University Law School Poll is out with its latest survey results – the first since the August 14 primaries. We talk to the poll’s director.

• Artist Helps Chronically Ill Kids See Their Inner Superhero

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  A Germantown artist is helping kids battling chronic illnesses to see their heroic side by creating free, personalized portraits of them as superheroes. We talk with him about how the project began and the bravery from the children that inspires each drawing.

• Using Illustrations, Artist Brings Smiles To Chronically Ill Children Through Their Superhero Powers

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  It wasn’t hard for Heather Burke to come up with a superhero name for her her son.

  Like his favorite robot Transformer Optimus Prime and his band of Rescue Bots, Jace Burke became a conqueror of his own constant battles with pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, a cancer he was diagnosed with at 2 years old.

  When artist Bryan Dyer drew Jace as a superhero named Conqueror, it was fitting that he was a powerful cape-wearing superhero who could fly, transform and defy the odds, and that he sported a suit in the same Maximum Red and Cobalt Blue colors as the 4-year-old’s hero, Optimus Prime.

  Emboldening the spirits of chronically ill children is the hope of Dyer, an artist who lives in Germantown and has been creating personalized portraits of superheroes for children such as Jace as part of his You Are The Hero project he began in 2015.

  And after the little boy, who would have turned 5 years old in September, was surprised with the illustration, he exclaimed it was “pretty awesome that he could fly,” his mother said.

  Jace died May 18 from acute myeloid leukemia, another form of cancer caused by one of the drugs used to treat his ALL, his mother said.

  “Just having it is enough for now,” Burke said of the illustration, saying it’s a reminder of “how strong and amazing he is. He truly is a superhero.”

  
  An illustration of a girl diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and down syndrome. Photo courtesy of Bryan Dyer

  You Are The Hero is a nonprofit organization Dyer, 29, runs full-time as its only employee. It takes Dyer about 15 to 22 hours to complete an illustration, which he then emails to the family to use in any capacity.

  Children’s parents or guardians fill out a “Superhero form” that includes information such the child’s preferred superpowers, their superhero name and what they would like their costume to look like.

  Dyer doesn’t charge for his illustrations, saying family members already have enough costs to bear with medical expenses and the emotional toll that can come from caring for a child with a chronic illness.

  “I just cannot bring myself to charge them any money for something that is meant to bring their child a peace of mind,” he said. “At the end of the day, the full purpose is just to inspire the kids and remind them that their illness is not their identity.”

  The idea for the project came to Dyer when he was in college working toward a medical illustration major at the Cleveland Institute of Art. While conducting research for his thesis — creating a comic book to educate kids about Type 1 diabetes — he learned 18 to 20 percent of kids in the United States live with a chronic illness.

  “That just really struck a chord with me, and I decided that I wanted to use my art to uplift and inspire these kids, because they’re going through such a horrible experience,” he said. “Since I loved superheroes growing up, I thought it’d be a cool idea to draw them as their very own custom superheroes.”

  Dyer noted the different reactions he hears from parents about what the illustrations mean to their children. Some create t-shirts with the illustrations on them. Others merely print out the illustrations of their children for them to show it off at school.

  “It’s really, really great to hear from the parents what this means to their kids,” Dyer said. “Any sort of awareness that they can help bring to what the child’s going through really means a lot to them.”

  Being strong and being able to fly are two of the most requested superpowers, Dyer said, pointing out the relationship between the superpowers and the limitations illnesses impose on the kids.

  “A lot of these kids, because of whether they’re going through chemo or if they’re in a wheelchair, they feel weak or under-powered,” he said. “So to have super strength, it’s like they’re getting back the strength they feel either they lost or they never had, and it helps them feel like they’re just normal.”

  Although everyone has their own struggles, Dyer said these children are still smiling and refusing to let their diagnoses prevent them from doing what makes them happy.

  “That’s a lesson that I think everybody can learn from, no matter how old you are,” he said.

• How Dollar General Is Changing Rural America

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  Driving through rural areas of Wisconsin or even inner-city Milwaukee you’ll see one common sign: Dollar General. The Dollar General chain is opening stores at the rate of three a day in the United States. Areas where grocery and shopping options are thin or distant are prime real estate for the store. We talk to an expert about the rise of Dollar General and how it’s found a thriving business strategy in the wake of many department store bankruptcies.