North Texas

8-Year-Old North Texas Boy with Cancer Makes Bucket List

See the Statue of Liberty. See a Broadway show. Meet an anteater. Those are just a few of the things on Nathan Beatty's bucket list.

"Oh, I know what that list is," said Beatty. "It's pretty much all my adventures and stuff I wanted to do."

The 8-year-old from Glen Rose started making his list after being diagnosed in August with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, an inoperable brain tumor. There is no cure or long-term treatment for his cancer.

"Nothing can prepare you for this," said Nathan's mother, Tara Beatty. "How are you going to live without your baby? You get lucky and God gives you a child and eventually he's going to get taken away from you, but you get to live with him, and for the rest of my life I get to be his mom."

The Beattys made a choice to live each day. They had Nathan make a list of all the things he wanted to do. They've been checking them off, one by one.

"I wanted to see the Statue of Liberty," Nathan said, smiling. "That's the coolest thing I've ever seen."

He also got to meet actor Brendan Fraser, the star of his favorite movie, The Mummy.

"He's a pretty good guy," Nathan said.

The Beattys don't know how much time they have left with Nathan.

"I'm going to be strong and I'm going to be brave and I'm going to keep fighting this thing," Nathan vowed with a smile.

When we told him he has a great smile, he laughed.

"All the girls tell me that," Nathan said.

"I think what he has to teach everybody is to just cherish every single moment, every single day," Tara Beatty said. "You don't know what the future holds."

A GoFundMe account has been set up for Nathan so that he can see the world. Click here to donate or find out more.

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