Firefighter for the day: thousands watch little boy with brain cancer live his dream

Brave little Alex has been fighting brain cancer for five years. 

Diagnosed with aggressive brain tumours, he has had hundreds of surgeries as well as chemotherapy. The survival rate for this kind of cancer is one in 10. 

His parents, Phil and Jo Tann, from Adelaide, Australia, were told by doctors that it was unlikely that he would live past the age of four. 

Alex is now eight and wants to be firefighter when he grows up.

However, he has completely lost his sight after the tumour crushed his optic nerve. But that doesn't stop him from doing anything. 

"I haven't seen his vision impairment stop him from doing anything yet," dad Phil told The Project. "It might take him a little longer to do things but it doesn't stop him." 

Alex loves the sounds of fire engines and emergency services. Wanting to help, local firefighters and radio stations stepped in. A crowd of thousands of people lined the streets to watch to watch Alex be a hero of the day. 

Wearing his own customised firefighter suit, the crowd cheered his name as performed the daring rescue. Climbing into the cherry picker, he saved two of the city's sports stars from the 'fire'. 

The event was to raise funds for the Childhood Brain Cancer Association, as well as for the look of pure joy on Alex's face. 

“I got so emotional seeing the sheer volume of people lining the streets for Alex,” his dad said.

“This is my little boy and these people are out here to support him. It really has been such a wild ride.”

A very special day, for a very special boy. Let's hope he continues (fire) fighting!