HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — A five-year-old Huntersville boy is celebrating a big win -- beating cancer.
Luke Miller was diagnosed with stage 3 T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma when he was three years old. Luke's parents said games and toys gifted by nonprofits were essential to helping them stay positive and have fun during a solemn time.
Last week, Luke went to Capitol Hill to advocate for kids just like him and to gain support for their difficult diagnoses.
"Luke just turned three years old when we first started noticing that he had an abnormality happening on his neck," Luke's mother Megan Miller said.
Cancer is tough, so Miller said they tried their best to make Luke’s treatments fun.
"He got virtual reality sets, and painting sets, and books," Miller said. "That was something that he really looked forward to going to the clinic."
Many of the games and toys were courtesy of the nonprofit Starlight. The organization's goal is to bring happiness into hospital rooms through fun games and hospital gowns.
"They provide a child with a sense of distraction and normalcy and that healing power of play that they need to cope," Starlight Child Life Specialist Viktoria de Jong explained.
Miller said because of the toys, games, and how comfortable nurses made Luke feel, she, "never really saw fear in his eyes."
On Thursday, Luke returned to the Novant Health Hemby Children's Hospital for, hopefully, the last time. He celebrated beating cancer by ringing the bell with his family and team of nurses. Miller held back tears as she watched him jump up and down from the excitement.
"We really want to spread hope and we want to spread faith," Miller said.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.