Metro Detroit boy winning battle against rare childhood cancer

Hundreds of students at a local elementary school rally to support a classmate in the fight of his life. Eight-year-old Jacob Pesta is battling a rare pediatric cancer, a thalamic brain tumor, and winning.

Doctors say the second-grader at Commerce Elementary is the first child in the United States and only the seventh in the world with this diagnosis.

Pesta was first diagnosed in 2009. Since then, he has had two craniotomies, radiation and chemotherapy. He attends physical therapy year round.

Friday, hundreds of his classmates wore yellow to cheer him on and for Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month.

In spite of everything, Pesta is still able to come to school every day. He has gone two and a half years with no evidence of disease. Doctors say it will be another two and a half years before he is officially considered a survivor.

His mantra is "survivors never give up." With the support of his family, his little sister and his entire school, this brave little boy continues to fight.

His parents started a foundation called Jacob's Fight (www.JacobsFight.com) to raise money for pediatric research because their son doesn't want "any other children to have a brain tumor like me."

It's been a long journey, but his family says they will do whatever it takes to make sure this is a battle Pesta wins.

There is a big fundraiser Friday at the Edgewood Country Club in Commerce Township at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $50 at the door.