At his Clayton school, classmates know 8-year-old Janson Herring as a funny third grader who loves baseball, not as a child facing cancer.

Now his family is preparing for treatment after learning he may have diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a rare pediatric brain tumor.

Final pathology results were still pending, his family said, leaving an important question unanswered as they considered what comes next.

Janson attends American Leadership Academy Johnston, where the baseball player’s quick humor remains a far more familiar part of his identity than any diagnosis.

His grandmother says he is still finding ways to make people laugh, even while the adults around him face frightening uncertainty.

The DIPG symptoms his family noticed did not arrive all at once: first came trouble holding objects and a tendency to stumble.

Within days, his speech became slurred, one side of his mouth drooped, and he began drifting toward his left as he walked.

Looking back, relatives also wonder whether difficulties while pitching baseball were early signs, though they seemed subtle at the time.

What looked like clumsiness quickly became a medical emergency, a shift that has left little room for the family’s usual routines.

The tumor is near the brain stem and cannot be removed surgically, according to the family.

Janson is receiving care through Duke Children’s Hospital, with his family expecting radiation therapy and exploring whether a clinical trial might be possible.

They say steroids are helping manage his symptoms, and he now uses a wheelchair to move around at home.

Each treatment decision carries enormous weight for parents trying to protect their son’s childhood while responding to a serious illness.

His brother and younger sister are adjusting, too, as the family works to explain what is happening in ways they can understand.

Friends and neighbors have brought meals and groceries, while donations are helping with medical, travel and household costs as his parents remain beside him.

An online GoFundMe campaign has also drawn hundreds of donations to help Janson’s family with medical expenses, travel and household costs while his parents focus on his care.

For this Johnston County school community, the most meaningful support may be remembering the boy beyond the diagnosis: a baseball-loving kid still eager to make someone smile.