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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

“Boy Scouts lets him be a kid.”

Nine-year-old Cameron Echols was recognized by his fellow scouts in Cub Scout Pack 57 for the courageous fight he is putting up against cancer. Cameron was honored at the pack’s annual Blue and Gold Banquet on March 18 at First Methodist Church of Clanton.

The banquet recognizes the scouts who completed a rank and are moving on to their next rank and den. Cameron moved from a Tiger to a Bear along with his fellow Tiger den scouts that will open up more opportunities for him in the world of scouting.

“Getting to meet new people, camping and getting to do knife training,” Cameron Echols said.

After the ranking change, Cameron received a wooden axe to resemble bravery from the pack. The axe came with a holder that has the inscriptions ‘A Scout is Brave’ with Cameron’s name and the scripture Joshua 1:9 — “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you.”

“It made me feel special,” Cameron Echols said.

Cameron was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year, a myeloblastoma, near his cerebellum in his brain that was blocking fluid from going to the rest of his body. A surgery was performed that removed most of the tumor, but to get the rest they used radiation that he went through up until last December.

“This flipped our world upside down, it really did in a second,” Holley Echols said. “When we got that news … Our whole world was different.”

Cameron is still going through chemotherapy and will continue that up until this fall with the hope he is done sometime in September or October. In the meantime, scouting has given the young boy a true outlet to feel like a normal kid for a bit and get away from everything he is enduring.

“These people are not just the troop and the cub scouts, they are our family outside of our family,” Holley Echols said. “It has been great to have someone else to talk to if we needed something or anything. It is so nice to have that.”

Greg Gault, Den Master for Cub Scout Pack 57, said he appreciates Holley and Ronnie Echols for keeping Cameron involved whenever he feels like he can. The other scouts enjoy when Cameron comes to the meetings, and he has gotten the chance to come more the last few months after his radiation was completed.

The scouts are still young and curious, so when one of their fellow scouts and friends is not feeling well, they all want to check in and see how he is doing. However, at meetings, all Gault sees are the boys enjoying each other’s company and it is business as usual with Cameron.

“The other boys jump on board with him, and they have all grown up together,” Gault said. “It is good to see him back (more often), seeing him feel better and participate. I give his parents and the good Lord the credit, I just teach that is all I do. (The scouts) all stick together, and it is a great group of boys.”

Holley and Ronnie described Cameron as a sweet, loving and caring boy, but it is his drive in everything that he does that really impresses them. He played soccer at the YMCA of Chilton County and will have the chance to get back on the field once he beats the cancer.

Whether it is scouts, soccer or his battle, just know that Cameron Echols is going to put his all into it.

“He is the light of my life,” Holley Echols said. “He is mine, and I do not know what I would do without him. He is a very special young man, and I am very proud of him.”