Brenden Heyde is just like any other third grader at George Walton Academy in Monroe. He loves to ride his bike, swim in his pool and pick on his big sister, but if you knew Brenden like I do, you would know that he has already overcome huge obstacles in his life.

This is his story.

Brenden lives next door to my parents and through the years we have become like family.

He is 8 years old and notoriously active. Always out and about swinging on his tire swing, chasing his big sis Morgan around, or riding his Razor up and down his long driveway; that's why when Brenden was diagnosed with Juvenile Pilocytic Astrocytoma, everyone was shocked.

In layman's terms, Brenden had a tumor the size of a tennis ball lodged in his brain.

On Oct. 3, 2007, an MRI at Children's Hospital of Atlanta confirmed it, just six days later Brenden underwent major surgery to have the tumor removed.

The surgery was a success and, one year later, we all joined Brenden in a "celebration of life" at his home on Friday, Oct. 3.

Instead of receiving gifts, Brenden and his family chose to collect new toys that they would donate to kids who are currently undergoing treatment at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

Balloon Guy Mike, a.k.a. Mike Clay, a full-time balloon artist from metro Atlanta, donated his time and services at the party, creating various hats and balloon creatures and teaching the children and adults alike, how to make their own balloon animals.

But it has been a long journey to get to Brenden's "celebration of life."

His symptoms had started about a year prior to his surgery. He would have sudden headaches and within 10 minutes would vomit and be back to normal. The doctors told him it was classic migraine symptoms.

It wasn't until Brenden's mom, Lisa, woke up in the middle of the night.

"God told me, ‘there is something wrong with your son and you need to have more testing done on his headaches,'" she explains on Brenden's Care Page at www.carepages.com.

Despite the "textbook" migraine diagnosis, the Heydes pursued more testing, and thank goodness they did.

Brenden is now back at school and laughing with his friends, he endures occasional MRI's to monitor his condition, but he is doing well and is back to his "normal" life again.

It was Brenden's idea to have a toy drive at his "celebration of life" party this October.

"Brenden was so sweet in the hospital, by giving away many of his gifts to children who had no one there for them," Lisa said. "We were all overwhelmed at the number of children who had no visitors during our stay at the hospital. These kids just sat in their room with nothing to do."

A wish list was provided to guests that would be attending the party and Brenden delivered the gifts at his last visit to the hospital.

"We took the gifts out on Monday," Lisa said. "We had a full truck load. We took them to Egleston to a department called Child Life."

Child Life provides a team of trained professionals who work with patients and families to help reduce the stress and anxiety that can be associated with the healthcare experience.

"They supply families with their immediate needs," Lisa explained. "We also got a lot of gifts sent from Michingan and from people that couldn't attend the party. It was very, very cool."

Brenden also had the opportunity to be involved with the Make a Wish Foundation.

"Do you know what Brenden's wish was," my mom asked me this summer. "It was to give his wish to someone else."

Lisa said that when they were in the hospital, a social worker told Brenden that he qualified for the Make a Wish program.

"It was a way to keep his spirits up, something for him to look forward to ... he was so sick," said Lisa. "He told us one day when he was feeling better that he knew what he wanted to wish for. He told the social worker and his family that he wanted to give his wish to someone who needs it." He did eventually choose another wish, to travel with his family to Nassau and stay at the Atlantis Resort.

During their visit they had safe encounters with sharks, hung out in water fall pools and got to swim with dolphins. "Make a Wish couldn't have planned it any better," said Lisa.

Brenden was also invited by the Aflac Cancer Center to go to Los Angeles for the All American Baseball Game at Dodgers Stadium. He and his dad, Chuck, and 11 other children were sponsored by Aflac to go for five days. They went to Disney Land and Universal Studios while they were there. Brenden's story was chosen by Aflac to be told on WSB 750 following a UGA game on Saturday, Sept. 13.

Throughout his ordeal there have been many positive things that have occurred, but there has also been hours of surgery, MRI's, testing, waiting and prayers. In my opinion, we can all learn something from Brenden's story. We could be selfless every now and then like Brenden was, choose to give our wish to someone else.

We could decide that instead of keeping our material possessions or gifts, to turn around and give them to someone else in need.

We could all make a point to take up a collection of toys this season, instead of asking for more for ourselves.

Brenden has endured a lot during his eight years here on earth, and he has chosen to rise above his circumstances and shine. We could all learn to be a little more like Brenden.