7-year-old battling leukemia forges special bond with Michigan quarterback

Boy waging leukemia battle forges special bond with Michigan quarterback

During this visit — we broke the ice with a gift on what happened to be Hudson’s seventh birthday and talked about his new friend — University of Michigan quarterback Davis Warren.

PLYMOUTH, Mich. (FOX 2) - Brandon Hudson paid a visit to a brave young man in a big health battle - and brought a surprise.

Brandon: So I heard it’s your birthday! I heard you’re a big WWE fan right? So, we wanted to give you this. You’ve got the WWE ring."

To understand this moment we have to go back to the first time FOX 2 met Hudson Gazsi.

Last year, he was a shy kid who hardly left his mom’s side as he adjusted to a life-changing cancer diagnosis. At the time, the young Lions fan got the shout-out of a lifetime from Aidan Hutchinson.

During this visit, we broke the ice with a gift on what happened to be Hudson’s seventh birthday and talked about his new friend — University of Michigan quarterback Davis Warren.

Brandon: "What did you and Davis do when he came over?"

Hudson: "We played Madden. We played basketball. I beat him in a race."

Brandon: "You beat him in a race? What kind of race was it?"

Hudson: "A foot race."

A friend of Davis’ family connected him with Hudson last fall.

Since then — their friendship has grown as Hudson battles leukemia - and needs a ray of hope in his darkest moments.

"I just sent a text saying, ‘Hey, if you have a free minute, Hud is going through a hard time. He’s losing his hair again. if you could send him an encouraging video, I think it would make his day," said his mom Emily. "He texted back and just said, ‘I'm sorry to hear that. That's awful, but I can do you one better and come hang out.' And I said, oh okay, sure."

Hudson Gazsi

"I spent five hours at his house," said Davis Warren. "For those five hours, if he doesn’t have to think about anything else, but what we’re going to do next and how he’s going to smile and laugh and have a good time, that means so much to me. and makes me feel my journey, my battle, and what I went through, was definitely worth it."

Davis can relate to Hudson’s journey, because he’s had a similar one too. As a high school junior, he was diagnosed with leukemia.

"I had treatment over the course of five months out in Los Angeles, where I’m from," he said. "This really changed my perspective on my whole life. I spent almost all that time in the hospital."

Davis’ cancer went into remission and now he spends time with pediatric cancer patients once a month - and being a teammate in a battle that’s much bigger than any game.

"(I want to) show them that cancer doesn’t have to define you. It doesn’t have to define who you are, who you want to be (or) the things you want to achieve in your life," he said. "\It’s been really rewarding meeting kids like Hudson, even other kids I’ve met through Mott’s."

"He understands how much little things mean to you, when you’re going through something like this," Emily said. "I really would like to thank his mother because she has raised an incredible, incredible son."

Brandon: "If Davis is going to get a chance to watch this, what do you want to tell him?"

"Thank you," Hudson said. "Go Blue."

Emily says the target date for Hudson to finish his treatment is 2025, and until then she plans to continue advocating for her son. She suggests that other parents going through the same thing, to do that as well.