Gainesville native Wesley Gailey received the 2021 Nancy Copper Sisu Spark award Wednesday morning at Sisu Integrated Early Learning.
Four-year-old Gailey was diagnosed with Burkitt's Luekemia, a blood cancer, in Sept. 2020. He underwent treatment at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and has since defeated the disease.
The Nancy Copper Sisu Spark award is given to one child and one adult each year who embody the word 'sisu'. Sisu is a Finnish concept for grit or determination, according to Daphaney Teaver, director of Development and Corporate Relations for Sisu.
"It's the tenacity and ferocity and it's that fighting spirit that people have when other people think they should give up," said Teaver. "As Wesley has shown everyone, being a child doesn't mean you can't do it. He overcame some of the greatest obstacles...his tenacity, his ferocity...he's a fighter."
Teaver said Gailey received two official nominations for the award. Among those who nominated him were Doctors Jennifer Gottsman and Kelly Lathem, local pediatricians who have treated Gailey, and Lauren Hunter, a reporter at AccessWDUN.
Teaver added that multiple requests came in to nominate Gailey even after the nominating period had closed.
The adult recipient of this year's award is Will Crain. Crain is expected to receive his award during an informal ceremony next week.
