A December award for people who rarely ask for help.

He was the life of the party and the older sibling others looked up to, and a few years earlier he had started his own business. In July 2015, stomach pains led to a biopsy and a diagnosis of neuroendocrine carcinoma, a rare cancer, and in his case an aggressive form. Chemo worked at first, then the cancer came back and spread. His insurer denied an expensive oral chemo, and by the time the family’s appeal won approval, his health had declined further. He lost much of his strength and weight, and had to give up his business.

Through it all, he kept mowing the lawns of a couple of elderly neighbors, first with a push mower, then with a used riding mower he had fixed up so he could rest two or three days and still take care of them.

They met during her senior year of high school, married, and had three boys and a girl. At 24, she sat in a hospital waiting room with three young children while her husband lay in a coma with a mass in his brain. He came through it, began treatment, and kept putting his family first until he passed away on January 18, 2013.

Eight months later, their son, then 5, was diagnosed with a brain tumor, later found to be Stage 4 glioblastoma. He has had four surgeries, and you would never know it meeting him. He’s an avid 49ers fan like his dad, and he loves to dance. His mother had to set school aside, and she can’t work the hours her job needs while caring for four children and his many appointments.

A 13-year-old seventh grader felt pain in his leg after basketball practice. An x-ray showed bone loss, and an MRI, more tests, and a biopsy confirmed osteosarcoma, a bone cancer. Ten days later he began the first of many rounds of chemo. Limb salvage surgery removed about a third of his tibia, and he now wears two braces.

Chemo left his hearing compromised, and platelet transfusions led to a bleeding disorder called ITP, so his parents now track his platelet counts every day. His father works at a casino to make ends meet. His mother stays home with him and his two school-age sisters when they aren’t making the hour-and-a-half drive each way to the hospital.