I didn’t know much about the movie, I knew it had Dave Nixon as a director who had produced Facing the Giants and Fireproof, and I knew the child had cancer.

Well I don’t think we were ten minutes into the movie when we were introduced to Tyler, the main character. They start with a shoot of his bald head with a telltale scar on the back on the neck. Dave and I looked at each other…brain tumor. It wasn’t long when they mentioned that his tumor was a Medulloblastoma. Okay, this is a little too close to home. We watched the whole film and found it maybe a little unrealistic in parts, but 6 months ago I wouldn’t have known any different. We were surprised that ‘Tyler’ had no surgical ‘fall out.’ Joel is still dealing with issues from surgery and he probably will for quite some time.

As the movie was based on a true story I had to hit google to see what I could. While Tyler’s tumor was small (which could explain him having no cerebellum issues after surgery) it had metathesized and he had cancer cells in his spinal fluid which makes him a high risk Medulloblastoma. Joel, on the other hand, had a huge tumor but there was no signs of cancer anywhere else, making him standard risk.

As I said it hit a little too close to home for us. That said Tyler’s life was an inspiration and it should be celebrated.