Brookville Timberlake Fire Dept. rallies behind 3-year-old battling brain cancer

LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) — The son of a former firefighter with the Brookville Timberlake Vol. Fire Department has been diagnosed with brain cancer.

Now, the community is rallying behind 3-year-old Axel Cunningham.

Axel started to have head and neck pains about a month and a half ago.

It was about mid-February, he started complaining just very randomly, here and there, about his neck hurting. So we took him to his pediatrician, because he hadn't done anything to hurt himself. So, they referred us to UVA Imaging. Before we could get to that appointment, he started the neck pain got, you know, really bad, and it was every day, almost all day. Then, the weekend before we took him up there, his eyes started to cross. So, that's kind of when we knew something was wrong, and we should probably just go on and go," Logan Cunningham said.

His dad, John, a former firefighter with Brookville Timberlake, and his mom, Logan, a current member of the Ladies Auxiliary, said the operation went well, but sadly more cancer was found.

He was diagnosed with a pediatric high-grade glioma, which is an aggressive tumor. They found it in his brain, and then there's some cancer on his lining of his spine, so we're waiting to start radiation within the next couple weeks. He had surgery mid-March, and he's actually done really well with his healing from the surgery," Logan Cunningham said.

Now, in the coming weeks, he will undergo radiation treatments in D.C.

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We'll be getting radiation at Sibley Memorial, which is in Washington, D.C. So that'll start probably at the end of April, and it'll last six weeks. He's not a fan of the hospital at all. He doesn't like doctors. But other than, I mean, he's been, he's been positive, and he's full of energy, just same old, 3-year-old that he's always been so," Logan said.

Logan is also asking for prayers for her son and remains hopeful for healing.

"We're just asking everyone to pray for everything. I mean, we just hope that we can get all the cancer out with the radiation and the chemo in the future. It's just been one thing after another, and very fast-moving. So, it's kind of just been, you know, to, you know, take it a day at a time," Logan said.

If you would like to donate to help the family, you can click this link.

"The GoFundMe will be used for his medical bills, and the traveling to and from because it's about a three-and-a-half-hour drive from the Lynchburg area to D.C.," Logan said.