Nine-year-old Éliakim emits the wattage of a small campfire! The kind that never goes out, even in a strong wind.

This young lad lives with his family, brother Isaac and sister Maëva in the country, alongside sheep, rabbits and Coconut, the family dog. This house filled with love is one of Éliakim’s favourite things in life, along with camping, water slides, animals and treetop adventures.

This funny, creative and ingenious boy has loved to climb, run, train and be active since he was just a toddler. But in January 2024, Éliakim was forced to slow down when he was given a diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Since then, weekly visits to the Charles-Bruneau cancer unit at the CHU Sherbrooke and numerous medical appointments have made hospital walls a regular part of his life. Fortunately for him and his family, he can receive treatment in his own region.

During the first nine months of treatment, a variety of complications arose: acute pancreatitis, a stay in intensive care, a significant weight loss, rehabilitation, transfusions and a ban on going to school and other public places. Running became out of the question and climbing, at which he once excelled, downright impossible.

Éliakim and his family have never stopped believing that he will regain the freedom to run, jump and climb. Today, though he cannot yet join his friends in a swimming pool, he is back in school, building up his strength and dreaming of all those things he loves and will soon be able to do.

Treatments are scheduled until June 2026. After that will come five years of monitoring, but Éliakim has already regained his vibrant energy!