2007 Feature picture story - First

Ryan Wood

Path to eternity

Midway through his eighth grade year, Kyle Smith, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called desmoplastic small round cell tumor, an aggressive cancer that primarily attacks young boys. Through the highs and lows of his 19-month battle with cancer, his maturity, faith and love for his family brought him a “sense of calm” as he called it. “I know I’m going to heaven,” Kyle said only days before his death in September. “I know it 100 percent, so I have no reason to fear death or even worry about it.”