Latest news, weather, high school sports for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

NEW ORLEANS -- An eight-year-old Calumet boy is at the Super Bowl this weekend with his parents. He’ll be rooting for the Baltimore Ravens to beat the San Francisco 49ers. But no matter who’s playing the game, this is one of those once in a lifetime events, and for Everest Leach, it was his wish to go to the game. But his wish was granted early in life for good reason.

Everest is battling neuroblastoma. It’s a cancerous tumor that develops in your nerve tissue. It occurs in infants and children. So Everest had a wish to go to the Super Bowl. The Make-A-Wish Foundation made it come true.

Everest, his parents, Bill and Liz, and a younger sister, have been in New Orleans since Thursday, experiencing everything that’s football. Everest and the rest of the Make-A-Wish group were at the Superdome for a private tour Friday. Everest played football for an hour on the game field and visited the NFL Experience.

Everest is a devoted NFL fan watching games every week. He says his love for football and the Make-A-Wish Super Bowl trip helped him get through his treatments. Liz, his mom says, "In terms of new people meeting Everest, there is an automatic in. Football. Just talk football. If they start a conversation about football, they become connected. He knows every statistic, every player. Football drives him. That is why we feel his wish is so remarkable. Sensitive, maybe shy, but discussion, even pretty sophisticated questions, about teams, rankings, plays, plans…those draw him in."

Everest gets his love of the game naturally. His family has history with the Baltimore Ravens. His grandfather coached with Jerry Roserg at Northern Michigan University. Everest has been a special guest at their training camp. He’s even played catch with Joe Flacco, the Ravens' quarterback on Sunday. So the entire Leach family will be rooting for Baltimore.

Everest’s wish will come to an end on Sunday night. The Leach family heads back to Upper Michigan on Monday. If the Ravens win the Super Bowl, it’ll cap a wish come true for Everest. He’ll have memories for a lifetime.

That lifetime is looking longer every day. That’s because Everest and his family received the real wish they’d been hoping for:  Everest’s neuroblastoma is in remission. His latest scans have come back negative for the cancer.

That’s a winner!