Bay Area LIFE: Inspiring Heroes share their stories of survival

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (KGO) -- An "Honored Hero" is selected for every Light The Night event. These heroes are individuals affected by a blood cancer, selected by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), to share their inspirational stories of survival.

Tessa Pyorre was diagnosed in June 2016 with pre B-cell ALL leukemia and within hours, Tessa was flown to UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital from the Mendocino Coast. Her chemotherapy started the next day and during the next six months, she would travel with her family back and forth from their home in Fort Bragg, to San Francisco, once sometimes twice a week for treatments. Tessa will finish chemotherapy in August of 2018. This year she was selected as the "Honored Hero" for Light the Night in San Francisco on November 16, 2017.

In the East Bay, Sage Nelson will be the Honored Hero for Light the Night in Walnut Creek on October 21, 2017. At the age of eight, Sage was asked to become a superhero and fight his own battle with Burkitt's lymphoma - what he calls, "The Big C". Sage was diagnosed after having a visible tumor removed from his tonsils. After three months of intense, and primarily in-patient treatment, Sage was in remission.

Light The Night aims to bring light to the darkness of cancer through research and cures. Light The Night is a series of fundraising campaigns benefiting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) funding of research to find blood cancer cures. The organization brings hope instead of despair by working to ensure access to treatments for all blood cancer patients. They bring communities together to celebrate those who are fighting the disease and to honor those have been lost.

Click here for more information on Light the Night and to register to participate in the event.