Christmas comes early this year for a three-year-old Kansas boy with terminal cancer.
This Sunday, Lebo, Kansas, will be celebrating the holiday for the little boy.
People in the city have been hanging up Christmas lights, where Christian Risner and his family will see them from a horse-drawn sleigh, putting up trees and posting on Facebook their support for Christian and his family.
Christian Risner, 3, was diagnosed with Rhabdoid kidney cancer 18 months ago. Doctors have said he has less than three months to live
Christian was diagnosed with Rhabdoid kidney cancer 18 months ago after his mom, Sarah Risner, found blood in his diaper.
She noticed that he didn’t have a fever or appear to be in any pain but she was worried so she called doctors.
Sarah and her husband, Josh Risner, went to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City where Christian was diagnosed with the disease that has caused tumors in his kidneys and lungs.
Because Christian loves Christmas, the city of Lebo in Kansas is celebrating it early this year
Last month, he underwent a procedure to drain 16 ounces of fluid from his lungs as he struggled to breath and experienced chest pains, according to The Wichita Eagle.
Doctors have told Josh and Sarah Risner that Christian has less than three months to live.
Kelly Freund of Lebo heard about Christian and was inspired by his cancer struggles because she too has had health issues before and almost died.
Christian and his mother, Sarah Risner, at the hospital. She first noticed something was wrong when she found blood in his diaper
After that she made a promise that she was going to ‘live my faith’.
‘I made a commitment that I was going to not just believe it, I was going to live my faith,’ Kelly told the Wichita Eagle.
‘Whatever God wanted me to do to show faith, I would do.’
She then got the idea that she would help Christian celebrate Christmas, which soon spread through the city of Lebo, which has a population of about 900.
A community dinner will also be held at the Lebo Baptist Church at 6pm on Sunday where a silent auction will take place. The money raised will go toward the Risner’s medical expenses.
Richard Odum, pastor of the Lebo Baptist Church, said he has been moved by Christian.
He said that everything has been tried to save Christian and that for the last months of his life, his parents have chosen to let him be a little boy.
‘Some days are good, some aren’t,’ Sarah told the Wichita Eagle.
‘I have come to accept and believe in my faith. I don’t know why God has chosen my child. I accept he needs him more than I need him and I don’t like it but I am grateful I get to be his mom.’
People in Lebo, Kansas, hanging up Christmas lights for Christian and his family
Christian and his family will see the Christmas decorations from a horse-drawn sleigh on Sunday