Balloons, cake, and a child eager to celebrate. Birthday parties are a big deal when you’re a kid, but this one was extra special for a little superhero.
Lucas, a six-year-old from Cape Coral, celebrated more than just another year of life. He celebrated beating cancer.
His parents recall the moment it all began.
“He was at my mom’s house, and she gave him a bath, and she felt the lump in his tummy, and then we went to the doctor shortly after,” they said.
Lucas was diagnosed with stage 3 nephroblastoma in January.
“They pretty much told us we had to stay there for surgery in the morning, so we pretty much just had to be kind of completely blindsided from the whole thing,” said his parents.
Today, Lucas is cancer-free.
When asked what they were celebrating, Lucas simply said, “Me!”
Lucas’s celebration was made possible by Heroes Unmasked, a Florida nonprofit that supports children battling life-threatening illnesses.
Michael, CEO of Heroes Unmasked, explained how the celebration came together.
“One of your coverage stories was here at Do the Beach Adventure Park, and we thought this would be a great opportunity to jump at, and so we reached out to them, and they jumped at the opportunity themselves, and they said they would love to celebrate Lucas’s milestone of overcoming the odds of beating cancer,” said Michael.
The festivities included surprises for Lucas and his siblings.
“It’s like an extra backbone, moral support, emotional support, not just for us, but for him, for his sisters, for the whole family, to know that he can be celebrated continuing on as well,” said his parents.
Michael highlighted the impact of the celebration for the children.
“Whether it’s a surprise element, the fact that they are just taken back distracted from their medical condition and allow them to use their imagination so they can just be a pure child and just embrace the moment and forget what their medical situation is,” he said.
The celebration culminated in a fun trip down a giant slide, a fitting way to mark Lucas’s triumph over cancer.
Superheroes, surprises, and slides made the day unforgettable for Lucas, who is now cancer-free.
Click here for more information on Heroes Unmasked.