Tom and Gloria Werner enjoyed time together with their sons, Cody and Cade, before Cody passed away at age 14 in 2017. (Submitted photo)
“He just was a kind, compassionate, spunky, funny kid who could make you laugh on a dime.”
Cade Werner, that spunky, funny kid with young expressions of a powerful faith in God, not only lies permanently etched in the memory of his mother, Gloria Werner of Rubicon in Dodge County.
He’s also making miracles through God’s handiwork in her life and the lives of others, from organs donated after his death to moments where Gloria believes God is using Cade to make a heavenly impact.
The Rubicon community lifts the Werner family through an annual Mother’s Day weekend tradition, hosting a series of events known as Play 4 Cade to honor the boy who was 14 when he died March 14, 2017, from injuries suffered in a car accident.
Play 4 Cade, from Wednesday, May 7, through Sunday, May 11, encompasses a blood drive, an organ donation awareness campaign and a tournament surrounding Cade’s love of baseball. The mission of Play 4 Cade is to provide funding to scholarships, organizations, activities and memorials, and to raise awareness for organ donations in Cade’s memory.
More than a dozen teams from the area will participate to honor the young man who gravitated to the sport.
“He was playing on a team, probably at 6 years old,” said Gloria, who belongs to St. John, Rubicon. “He had the love and was good at it and was fast. He could run the bases. He was quick. It just kind of stuck with him, so he just loved it.”
Baseball was not Cade’s core focus. Gloria saw an unwavering faith and an angelic presence that provided solace to her in both everyday moments and the hardest times of anxiety and grief.
“We found out my dad was passing away. Cade was 5 at the time,” Gloria said. “He caught me in my bedroom crying, and he said, ‘Mom, why are you crying?’ I said, ‘I’m just sad.’ He said, ‘Well, Grandpa’s going to go by Jesus, and he’s not going to hurt anymore.”
After his brother Cody told her about the crash that resulted in her younger son’s death, Gloria said only their shared Catholic faith got them through the trauma.
“The moment we got the phone call, we grabbed the crucifix off his room mirror,” said Gloria. Their parish priest met the family at Children’s Wisconsin hospital in Milwaukee.
“Cade made it through his first surgery, but (doctors) really didn’t give us much hope that he would survive. But I always tell everybody, ‘God is good.’ Cade made it for four days, and he gave us those four days to be able to hold him, talk to him and just accept what was going to happen.”
From the moment Cade died, Gloria believes God started using him to bring about miracles — including a second chance at life for other children.
Cade was an organ donor, and his heart now beats in Greyson Cornelius of Green Bay, who was age 4 ½ years old when he underwent the heart transplant.
“His injuries were so bad, but God made his organs okay to be able to donate them, and now we get to watch this little boy grow up,” said Gloria. “He’s now 12, he comes to Play 4 Cade, and we get to see him and have a really awesome relationship.”
Gloria’s relationship with Cade now reflects a constant presence of God’s love in her daily life, with evidence of little miracles stemming from conversations she has with her son in heaven.
“I definitely can feel his presence, and there’s definitely things that have happened that (reveal) he’s with us,” Gloria says.
“We have a light on our fireplace hearth that we got after Cade died, and it’s a little boy holding a mason jar with a firefly in it. It’s a solar light. To this day, it goes on at random times, in the middle of the day, in the middle of the night. A lot of times, if I’d fall asleep on the couch at night, I’d wake up (at) 1 a.m. and the light would pop on, randomly. The first time my husband left for hunting after Cade died, that morning, I came out from the bedroom and I saw that the light was on.”
Gloria said that her husband felt Cade’s hand on his shoulder at Cody’s confirmation, and her mom saw Cade within their home shortly after his accident.
She also believes God has used Cade to keep their family unit strong through their grief.
“I’ve heard so many times when somebody loses a son or a daughter, they get divorced, and their family falls apart. I’m like, ‘We have to stay together and stick together,’” Gloria said.
“Cade has helped Tom and me be here for Cody, and for even our relationship.”
Gloria believes that through everything, Cade Werner’s life of giving has become one of heavenly intercession, God continuing to use a compassionate, spunky boy who was quick on the basepaths.
Play 4 Cade
What: Memorial baseball tournament, organ donation awareness event, blood drive and bags tournament
Where: Rubicon and other nearby locations
When: Wednesday, May 7, through Sunday, May 11. Full schedule of events on Play 4 Cade’s Facebook page
More information: Donations fund scholarships and assist local organizations and groups that aided the Werner family in their time of greatest need. Find out more at play4cade.com
