Whiz Kid of the Week: Daniel Jackson is a Symbol of Perseverance and Hope

Name: Daniel Angello Jackson

Age: 6 years old

School: High Point Elementary

Accomplishment: Daniel perservered through more than three years of treatments for Leukemia and has emerged a healthy and compassionate boy.

Key to Awesomeness: After being diagnosed with Leukemia just one day after his first birthday, Daniel underwent extensive treatments, including daily shots of blood thinner to battle a genetic blood disorder.

To avoid searching for a major vein during each visit, a small device, called a port, was inserted with a long tube that is threaded through a major artery to his heart.

His mom, Ilsa Jackson, said the port symbolized cancer for Daniel. “His idea of getting rid of Cancer was his port being taken out in surgery. That day he came home [in 2008] and said, very excitedly, ‘My cancer is gone,’ as he pointed to the incision from where his port had been almost his whole life,” she said.

As the youngest of eight kids, Daniel’s battle has made the family stronger as they banded together to support him and continue to stand together in strong support of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

As a family, they have participated in the LSS "Light the Night Walk." Ilsa has run three marathons and two half marathons in Danel's honor with LSS’s Team in Training, and is currently training for her first triathlon in 2012.

His 14-year-old sister, Maria, has been a public speaker for the LLS, giving her story on how the family survived and learned three things through Daniel’s leukemia: Trust, faith and hope for a future that is cancer free.

Daniel has been the honored hero of Team in Training of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society three times, and was the first Georgia Child of the Year (Boy) for their Georgia Man and Woman of the Year gala event.

“Daniel is special in the sense that he seems - as young as he is -  to understand God's hand in his life,” said Ilsa. “He prays for others going through cancer really hard and thinks that his prayers are loudly heard. He loves to pray for all going through hard times, but when he hears of others, especially children going through cancer, he really seems to take these to heart in his prayers.”

He loves to go out and serve water and Powerade to runners training for their first marathon or half marathon as a way of saying, "Thank you for saving my life with your fundraising."

Daniel also enjoys playing outside with his brothers, swimming, karate, reading and watching wrestling with his dad.