Jacksboro — Hundreds of people across East Tennessee wore blue on Tuesday to support a Campbell County boy fighting brain cancer.
Doctors diagnosed Conner Lane with brain cancer in November 2015. He was 11-years-old then. Since then, the community has continued to demonstrate its support, including a 5K run and pep rallies at his school.
Tuesday was chosen as #Blue4Conner day as part of homecoming week at Jacksboro Middle School, but the support came pouring in from far beyond Campbell County. The Jacksboro Fire Department had named Conner an honorary firefighter and also put out the word for other people to pray for and to show their support for Conner.
"When the students came in this morning for morning bus duty, over 99 percent of them had blue on," Jacksboro Middle School principal Gretchen Thomas said. "It's unreal the amount of support, not just that's coming from little Campbell County, but is coming from several miles away."
The people that know Conner best say he is the life of the party.
"If you're in a bad mood, he can put a smile on your face no matter what's going on," said Macy Massengil, one of Conner's friends at Jacksboro Middle. "Just keep praying. He keeps praying and he has spirit and we all believe that something's going to happen."
The support for Conner will continue even past the day designated to wear blue for his honor.
"Prayer makes a difference," Thomas said. "We believe that he's going to be with us and he's going to graduate with this cohort."