9 year old beats cancer, spends Thanksgiving giving back to hospital

DETROIT (WJBK) - The sixth floor of the children's hospital in Detroit is where Adam Cole spends most of his time. 

"If I can survive cancer, then everybody else can survive cancer," the 9-year-old boy said.

On this turkey day, Adam and his family are giving back. The bubbly boy, lovingly known as "the boss man," got a scary diagnosis when he was just three weeks old.

"His tumor was the size of two adult fist size," said his mother, Karen Cole.

Thankfully the large tumor was not cancerous and was removed. His parents were beyond relieved, but in December of 2016 another tumor was discovered when Adam was only 7 years old.

"I went up to my room and I just shut the door and I just cried. I just kept crying," Karen said.

And this time the diagnosis was a rare cancer -- choroid plexus carcinoma.

Undergoing surgery and a year of chemo and stem cell transplants, the young boy was so sick he was often in isolation.
 
"You see your baby and he's sick and he doesn't have hair. He would look in the mirror and he would cry, and he would say this is not me. This is not me. And it literally would come out in clumps," Karen said.

And Adam's advice?

"Squeeze onto your mom's hand or whatever grown up's that's there for you," he said.

But after a rough road, this week there was some good news -- Adam's last MRI was all clear.
 
"He kept us going more than we kept him going," said his father, Chris Cole.

This Thanksgiving, Adam and his parents teamed up with Chef Bobby to bring a savory feast to families and staff.

"You meet a lot of kids who are struggling, I've never met any young man, who's 9 years old and he's like an old soul," Chef Bobby said.

Adam's parents say he spent most of his time on the 6th floor, the floor where the hospital's sickest kids stay.

"They usually are kids with leukemia, blood disorders, cancer," said Luanne Thomas-Ewald/CEO of Children's Hospital. "When we see kids giving back to kids it's heartwarming."

Detroit Police Chief James Craig stopped by to meet "the boss man." Roughly 60 people piled their plates. So, this holiday season, from the Cole family to yours, a little reminder:

"Don't give up when something's hard, have faith," Karen said.

"I believe in you," Adam said.