Wearing red and joining in prayer, hundreds poured out in support Wednesday for a 7-year-old Honey Creek student recently diagnosed with brain cancer.
"It's kind of this awesome thing that caught on yesterday," Tyler Copp, principal of Immanuel Lutheran School-Honey Creek, said of the outpouring of support for Brennan Schulte.
The school, where Brennan attends second-grade, held a special prayer service in support.
According to the Facebook page "Brennan's Prayer Warriors," he was taken to his pediatrician Oct. 31 after his family became suspicious after four days of his recent illness.
"He was a healthy child and just had been having some vomiting, and we noticed some uneven pupils," his mother, Kari Schulte, said.
After receiving the MRI that day, Brennan was diagnosed and the family rushed him to St. Louis Children's Hospital. On Friday, Brennan had surgery where a biopsy determined the type of cancer.
"It's inoperable, they can't remove it from where it is because of where it's located in his brain," Kari said.
Community members were touched when word spread about Brennan. St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic School posted Nov. 6 they would wear red and have a rosary prayer service for him the next day. Soon, others agreed to do the same.
"It actually just gave me chills when I was reading everyone that was joining in," Kristin Morris said.
Morris is the seventh- and eighth-grade teacher at St. Thomas who started the efforts. She shared the post with the 1,219 members of the prayer warriors page.
"The one thing that we can do is pray, and that's something that we always try to instill in our students," Morris said. "It was just to let (the family) know they're not alone and they have a lot of support and prayers."
Surrounding schools and community members in Eldon, Eugene, Jefferson City and more shared photos and messages.
"Our family feels so blessed, and we appreciate the outpouring of love. And it really has pulled up our spirits during a time of fear," Kari said. "Right now, we're waiting to hear whether it's high or low, and so we're asking for prayers for complete healing."
She said a low-grade type can be easily stunted with chemotherapy.