CALGARY - To his family, Jordan Feradi is more than a brave little boy - he is a trailblazer for how kids will be treated in the future for cancers like his.

On Tuesday, the eight-year-old Calgary boy underwent a groundbreaking procedure at a New York City hospital to treat the brain stem tumour he has been living with since January.

Jordan was the third of about a dozen children accepted for the treatment that targets the tumour by injecting a radioactive agent directly to the site of it.

His dad John said while it may take time to see some results, the operation has been deemed a success.

"They want the tumour to remain stable but if he gets some of his mobility back that would be great news," he said.

Radiation helped the avid novice hockey player regain some mobility after the cancer paralysed him, but when chemotherapy became intolerable, John searched for a new treatment option and found the trial offered at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

"What we need is another 10 to 15 kids to sign up and have similar results and hopefully the tumour is being stable and we can move on and get past the old way of treating kids and get to a new way of doing things," John said. "We think Jordan has helped put us on a new path."

Jordan was released from hospital Saturday and is now staying with his parents at Ronald McDonald House down the street.

"He misses home but once we got out of the hospital his spirits picked up a little bit," he said. "I'm flying back to Calgary (Sunday) and grabbing his little brother and coming back down and we're going to try to enjoy New York for awhile."

Jordan celebrated his birthday during his stay with parties at the hospital and the Ronald McDonald House.
"I almost need a new suitcase to carry all these gifts home - there are a lot of big hearts here," John said.