WATCH: Community Hosts Parade for Young Cancer Patient Leaving Home for Treatment

Neighbors in Eldridge, Iowa, gathered recently to show support for a little boy who will receive cancer treatment away from his home during the holiday season.

Doctors diagnosed Hudson Ferris with neuroblastoma in July, Our Quad Cities reported Thursday.

The next phase of the nine-year-old’s treatment will occur around Christmas, so friends from his school, neighborhood, and also a few strangers, made sure to bring the holiday season to him and his loved ones.

Community members held a drive-by parade featuring cars, trucks, buses, and semis to wish him well on Tuesday as they journey to Madison, Wisconsin, for the treatment.

“He’s been through five rounds of chemotherapy and surgery to remove the tumor,” his mother, Traci Ferris, told WHBF.

“We are getting ready to embark on our stem cell transplant journey which starts tomorrow,” she explained. “We do have a big trip tomorrow. Trying to prepare to be gone for four to six weeks from home is not an easy task.”

Neuroblastoma is categorized as a rare kind of cancerous tumor that nearly always affects children, according to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital website.

“Neuroblastoma develops from nerve cells in the fetus called neuroblasts. Usually, as a fetus matures and after birth, the neuroblasts develop normally. Sometimes they become cancerous, causing neuroblastoma,” the site read.

Ferris said it was probably the hardest thing their family had experienced, noting, “It might be the toughest thing we ever have to endure.”

However, “He has an army of people supporting him and so we will get through this. He’s been through more than many adults have been through.”

“He just is, you know, strong and tough, and he’ll get through it,” Ferris concluded.

After Hudson’s treatment is finished and he starts to feel better, the family plans to take a trip to Hawaii.

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