You never want to see your child in pain.

So when Shalmar Herlihy of Summit Hill saw her 8-year-old son black out from a headache last August, she needed answers.After visiting Keegan's pediatrician, who advised going to see a neurologist, an MRI revealed Shalmar's worst fear, the cause of Keegan's headaches was a brain tumor, located at the top of the spinal cord on the cerebellum."I was heartbroken because you don't want to see your kid suffer," she said, holding back tears, and adding that the whole scenario was even tougher because Keegan's dad, Pete, passed away in 2011."Your whole world flashes right before your eyes. We both cried about it and then Keegan asked, 'Am I going to die' and I said, 'No, you're going to fight' and he has been fighting ever since."Over the next few weeks, the widowed mother; her daughter, Kassandra, who was in her first semester at college; and her family and friends helped prepare Keegan for his upcoming surgery and the difficult path he was going to be traveling."My family was so supportive through it all," Shalmar said. "They rallied around him and did what we had to do to get through this. He is one lucky kid."At 6:30 a.m., on Oct. 7, 2014, Keegan was wheeled into the operating room and Shalmar waited anxiously in the waiting room.It took nearly nine hours before mother and son were reunited.Shalmar had been told that there were multiple complications that could happen following the surgery, including Keegan's ability to talk and walk could diminish, his balance would be gone and his sight may be impaired.As Keegan lay in his hospital bed, silent, Shalmar prayed to hear his voice.And then he spoke.Keegan spent nine days in the pediatric intensive care unit at LVH learning how to cope with the fatigue, nausea and other side effects from having brain surgery; before being moved to the step-down unit.Following a brief stay in a rehabilitation center, Keegan came home.The road to recovery was tough though."A brain tumor takes your kid away from you," Shalmar said. "It takes their personality. They get withdrawn, anxiety, they get depressed. But we worked very hard to overcome that by keeping him social and busy and always talking through things. It also brings out some behaviors."We just started to get a glimpse of him coming back to us with his sense of humor," she added. "It takes a lot out of your child."As the weeks went by, Keegan and Shalmar worked to regain some sort of normalcy in the home.Keegan said that he went through a number of emotions, from sadness to anger, but added that his friends helped him through the dark days.Slowly, he began to regain his ability to walk for distances and used a wheelchair less and less.In the beginning of this year, he returned to school at St. Joseph Regional Academy in Jim Thorpe.Shalmar credits the fast action by Keegan's pediatrician, as well as Dr. Elizabeth Corbo, the neurologist who found the tumor; Dr. Philip Monteleone, the oncologist; and Dr. Mark Li, Keegan's neurosurgeon, for the happy outcome of this nightmare."The outcome could have been horrific," she said, noting that 4,000children are diagnosed with brain tumors annually and even benign tumors could cause major problems because of theirlocation. "But it was a miracle. We are all so lucky."Some days Keegan still fights fatigue and balance issues and still has some problems with his vision, but overall he is back to being a normal kid who enjoys video games, playing with his dog, Jupiter, and loving his family.