After four years of treatment for rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer that affects muscle and connective tissues, doctors found cancer cells in Dorian Murray's spinal fluid.
"His doctors made it very clear then that chemotherapy was no longer curative and wouldn’t help in any significant way to delay the inevitable," Dorian's mom, Melissa Murray of Westerly Rhode Island, tells PEOPLE. "We decided then as a family to stop treatment."
Knowing that their son's time was limited, Dorian's parents dedicated themselves to making his dreams come true.
"He mentioned to his father that he wanted to be famous in China because they have the Great Wall there and Dorian had seen it in a cartoon," Melissa recalls.
Dorian's father shared the wish on his Facebook page and Melissa shared it on the Facebook page where thousands had followed the young boy's four-year battle with cancer.
"Within hours we had multiple photos – not just from China, but Japan and Australia and so many different countries," Melissa says.
The photos of people holding up a sign with Dorian's hashtag #Dstrong continued pouring in from around the globe via Facebook and Twitter.
#DStrong Dorian, Dstrong is not only in the Great Wall, but many places in China pic.twitter.com/6yW0GJ4vAT
— (@yexiangming) January 13, 2016
"I started showing him the posts and he asked, 'Am I famous everywhere?' " Melissa recalls. "And I said, 'Yeah, buddy, it looks like it.' "
When a local news station visited the family this week, Dorian was eager to spread the word about his dream. "He told the local news station that before he goes to heaven he just wants to be famous," Melissa says.
"I've gotten Paris, Japan, Switzerland, Italy," Dorian told WPRI. "They're just saying to keep fighting. They believe in me. And it’s just really nice to know that so many people have my back for me."
On Thursday, Dorian and his mom were treated to a VIP tour of the Mystic Aquarium. "They had the whales holding up #Dstrong signs," his mom recalls. "He's really just sort of on cloud nine."
Thousands have come through to make his new goal a reality – from a visit from New England Patriot Rob Gronkowski to having stars named after him to thousands of messages of support from around the world.
"He's 8 years old, so being famous to him is pretty massive," she continues. "It's been a really good experience for him."
Source: PEOPLE
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