7-year-old 'superhero' battling brain cancer has not lost his gift for brightening a room

TINLEY PARK, Ill. - Near tears, Noelle O'Connell recalled the terrifying walk she and her husband Tim made through hospital hallways to see their first-grader son in recovery following brain surgery.

It was Sept. 11, 2017 and O'Connell said she could hear other kids in the post-surgery unit whimpering.

"We weren't sure what we were going to see," the Tinley Park, woman said, "but my heart was bleeding."

They walked into the bay where their youngest child lay in time to overhear him telling the nurses about "the savages" he lives with.

"He was still our Timmy," O'Connell said, laughing. "It was such a relief."

Timmy is now in the throes of a treatment program that has