(WGN) — An 11-year-old boy in New York state got the chance of a lifetime when he led a parade on the field at Yankee Stadium.

For Mason Queary, the real victory continues to take place off the field. For more than a year, he's battled a germ cell brain tumor.

"I've sat in the hospital for almost a year and a half, and not once did I let it stop me," he said.

It's the spirit needed in such a fight, and the hope Mason's mom believes in, as his type of tumor can have a cure rate upwards of 90 percent.

"He pulls the strength out of me," she said. "Yesterday, we stopped at Applebee's after his MRI, and the waitress, her name was Hope. And he goes, 'That's a coincidence. Well, I had my MRI today, and my waitress' name is Hope. So we just have to have hope.'"

With his best friend Duke, whom

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