LISBON, Conn. -- Two boys are recognized as heroes in the way they're dealing with some serious health problems.

Lucas Cyr, who's about to enter the fourth grade, has bone marrow failure because of leukemia. He has bravely battled his illness for the past five years.

"He deals with this so well, and that's how we deal with it because he's dealing with it so well," said Dixie Santerre, Lucas' grandmother. "He's an amazing guy."

When Lucas was 7 months old, he was just like any other happy-go-lucky baby with a smile that said it all. By the time he was old enough to catch his first fish, Lucas was pretty sick.

"He was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and he went for three years of chemo, and he was in remission, but after that, he continued to get blood transfusions, and they couldn't figure out why, and they just diagnosed him with bone marrow failure," said Tori Cyr, Lucas' mom.

Now 8, Lucas needs to go in to the hospital for more bone marrow treatment. Lucas said he'll be in a hospital in Boston for about six months.

Time in the hospital means time away from playing with his best friend, Nick Brouilliard, who suffers from brittle bone disease. The two have been best buds since they met in the second grade.

"He's going to Boston Children's (Hospital), and he's going to be there for six months," Nick said.

"You still want to keep in touch with him, right?" Channel 3's Scot Haney asked Nick.

"Yeah! (I'm going to) raise money to buy laptops for me and Lucas," Nick said. "Nothing will get in between us."

Both families have mounting medical bills, which leaves no money for computers right now. So, Nick raised the money to buy his best friend a laptop, which is currently on order.

"We put a little cup to raise money," Nick said.

A cup at his mom's package store -- Occum Package Store in Norwich -- collected enough money to purchase one computer through donations from generous people over three months. Still, the best buds need one more to keep in touch.

"How are you going to raise the rest of the money? The same way?" Haney asked.

"It's going to be the same way," Nick said.

"I was amazed when I found out that Nick was actually going to do this," said Dawn Brouilliard, Nick's mom. "Actually, the computers will have a microphone on them, and a camera so they'll be able to see each other, too."

"They're hoping to play PlayStation together: Nick from home, Lucas from the hospital. So, they can still keep in touch in a lot of ways," Tori Cyr said.

Eyewitness News spoke with the Cyr family on Friday, just before they left for the hospital in Boston. Over the next few days, Lucas will undergo some very intense radiation and chemotherapy.

The donated bone marrow, which will be flown in on Thursday from a donor in Europe, will be transplanted into Lucas next Friday.

Update

As of July 19, the boys' families received some generous contributions to help defray the costs of the computers for the boys. With those contributions -- some of which came from Channel 3's very caring viewers -- the cost of Lucas' computer has been completely covered. There had been some offers to fully pay for both the boys' computers, but they have not worked out for various reasons. The cup is still out at the Occum Package Store in Norwich for a laptop for Nick. If you'd like to support that effort, you can contact the families by e-mailing kidshelpingkids@comcast.net.

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