On August 17, 2015, Elliot Storms, a student at Central Elementary in South Williamsport, was diagnosed with Wilm’s Disease, a rare form of cancer that affects the kidneys of young children. For the past four years, Elliot and his family battled courageously against the disease. On June 20th, Elliot’s battle ended when Jesus took him by the hand and led him home to heaven. Elliot was 11 years old.

Within Elliot’s chest beat the heart of a true warrior. Pain was no match for his relentless spirit. He was determined to enjoy life and family and friends—and nothing was going to get in his way. Nothing. He gave to life every ounce of strength he had to give, because that’s what warriors do.

On June 25th, over 700 people gathered to pay tribute to the warrior, the size of the crowd revealing how his extraordinary life had impacted an entire valley. At the memorial service, the parents of his best buddy, Waylon, shared what they had learned from Elliot. Their words were so moving that I immediately knew I wanted to share them with the readers of the Weekly. Here is the tribute offered to Elliot by Erick and Julia Edler:

When we asked our son Waylon about what to say about Elliot, he said “You would need all day to talk about Elliot.” So this will be the cliff note version.

Nine years ago when two chubby-cheeked little boys met each other at church, little did we know how much they would change our lives. At some point, Elliot and Waylon came up with a plan: we would adopt Elliot and Marc and Dawn would adopt Waylon, and then each family would have shared custody of the boys – one week at our house and one week at theirs. Although we never officially followed that plan, they truly became brothers. From Marc and Dawn being Waylon’s Sunday school teachers and leading him to ask Jesus to be his Lord and Savior, to Dawn watching Lydia and Waylon for four years before they were school aged, to never ending playdates, sleepovers and camping with the church, our lives became intertwined. We love Elliot just like he was Waylon’s brother. When we think about Elliot, we can think of so many great stories and so many good memories. We started to realize that hidden within all those stories and memories are things we can learn from Elliot. We could have way more than five, but since this is the cliff note version, here are the top five Elliot life lessons:

First, you are capable. Elliot said his sister Lilly told him this, and he passed this wisdom onto Waylon. So when it would be time to clean up the dishes, Elliot would say, “Waylon, it’s like Lilly says to me, you are capable.” I use this line on Waylon all the time and he can’t complain because it came from Elliot – and whatever Elliot said was gold. I am a teacher, and over the years I have shared this wisdom with my students – all because of Elliot. The way Elliot battled cancer showed all of us that we are capable of far more than we can imagine.

Second, get through the bad stuff to get to the good. Fighting cancer is hard. Surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, needles, horrible stuff to swallow, x-rays, MRIs, long days, weeks and months in the hospital – such a fight is not for the weak. Over the years of treatment, we told Dawn to use sleepovers and hanging out with Waylon as a way to help Elliot get through the bad stuff. This was partly selfish because we just loved having Elliot with us. He was the life of the party and all boy, but he had the biggest, sweetest heart, and honestly the best manners. He was so sweet in fact that he would always eat what I cooked for dinner, have seconds, and then tell me how good it tasted. To which Waylon would always say, “Well, I like Mrs. Dawn’s food.” He loved our snack drawer and he would always clean up any messes without being asked. He said please and thank you all the time.

Elliot endured all of the pain and hardship because he knew something good was coming. Ultimately, he knew that what happens here on earth is just part of passing through on the way to our true home in Heaven. And now, perhaps he and John the Baptist are comparing notes on how long they went without bathing or what weird bugs they ate. I am sure Elliot is telling him about the ants he ate at the park with Waylon, or the chicken food he convinced our daughter Lydia to eat . . . because it tasted just like lemons.

Third, be all in. Elliot didn’t do anything half-hearted. Many times when he and Waylon would be playing army, and the “enemy” would try to take him out, I would find Elliot sprawled out on the living room floor calling me to help him get our dog to lick his face to revive him, saying “It’s got to be real like in the movies.” The boys didn’t waste any time together during sleepovers, and I use the term SLEEPover rather loosely. They would play their hearts out until late at night. When we would finally get them into bed, you could hear them whispering if they should set the alarm for 5:00 or 5:30 in the morning – they didn’t want to miss a minute of being together. Breakfast and lunch had to be eaten in one hand while a nerf or a lightsaber battle continued. And when the parents would come to pick one of them up, there always had to be one more game or one more snack. If that didn’t work, there was hiding in the other person’s car to sneak home with them, or running away through the field to Waylon’s grandparents’ house.

By the way, Bigfoot is real and Elliot and Waylon have seen him. Although their Bigfoot meetings were not as regular as they would have liked, they were so all in, that they had themselves pretty scared to go outside sometimes. Are we just going through the motions in life? Let’s be like Elliot the Warrior and live all in.

Fourth, friendship. Elliot was a great friend – the best! We could not have picked a better friend for Waylon. What they had was special. Waylon was proud of Elliot. Elliot was not afraid to throw an arm around Waylon’s shoulder from time to time. There was no room for jealousy in their friendship. If Elliot had something that he thought Waylon would like, he would either give it to him or ask his mom to buy Waylon the exact same thing – and Waylon did the same for Elliot. Elliot’s influence on Waylon was exactly what we wanted for our boy. Waylon is braver, more confident and has a stronger faith in God because of Elliot. Waylon used to be somewhat shy. This changed some with Elliot’s help. One time he convinced Waylon to enter a talent show. The two of them arm-pit farted a song – truly a proud moment for both sets of parents. For Waylon, crazy stuff like that would not have been possible without Elliot. Elliot could have written a book, or better yet, made a YouTube video on friendship. I know Waylon would be game. Bottom line, Elliot demonstrated how to be a friend. It is now our job to carry it on.

Fifth, love large. Elliot loved – and he truly loved large. He knew how to drive his big sister Lilly crazy, but he loved her so much. He affectionately called her his second mom. He loved how she took care of him. She was always watching out for him, and with Elliot, that wasn’t an easy task. Charlie was Elliot’s cool older brother. He loved Charlie with such awe and respect. Waylon and Elliot wanted to do what Charlie did. Elliot loved telling Waylon about the things he did with Charlie. Elliot loved his dad and everything he talked about had his dad included in it. Marc is so much a part of who Elliot was. Plus, it doesn’t get much cooler than having your dad be a police officer, right? I think a major highlight for both Waylon and Elliot was seeing Marc chase after a suspect. Their version of the story may have had some embellishments, but it showed us that Marc was his hero. And Dawn was the best mom Elliot could have had. He loved and adored her. He wanted her to be happy, well, unless she was trying to pick him up from our house earlier than he wanted. He would notice things at our house or when we were out places and he would say, “My mom would like that.” I think about how he bid on and won a scripture sign for his mom at our church missionary auction. He was filled with pride and excitement to be able to give it to his mom.

Above all Elliot loved God. He taught us that we might not understand everything we experience here on earth, but we are to love and trust God through it all. He had no anger towards God. He knew God was good all the time. Elliot knew that when he got to Heaven he wanted to run and give Jesus a hug. He taught us that when we love God, death is not an end, it is a beginning of our real life with our Heavenly Father. And we know that this is just a temporary separation from Elliot and that those of us who accept Jesus will see him again. Remember, if God is with us, and Elliot is with God, then we can’t be far apart. Love will always keep us close – and Elliot truly loved large.

Fate whispers to the warrior, you cannot withstand the storm.

The warrior whispers back, I am the storm.

Marc, Dawn, Lilly and Charlie, we are still Storms Strong! And we will forever remember Elliot the Warrior.