STYX RIVER, Ala. — It was a gala October afternoon at the Styx River Volunteer Fire Department. Youngsters went on a hay ride. There was a clown to paint faces, plenty of balls to chase through the parking lot, and a karaoke machine.

Out back the children’s fathers and grandfathers kept one eye on mullet filets in deep fryers, another eye on a televised college football game. Inside, women presided over steaming platters of fish, piles of potato salad, french fries and a host of other goodies.

The fun was to honor something special in Dalton Sirmon’s young life. The Styx River six-year-old recently completed chemotherapy treatments. While there will be a time of careful watching, so far Dalton has the “all clear” from his doctors.

Dalton is a first-grade student at Rosinton Elementary. His older brother, Eathan, is a fifth grade student there.

“It all started with infections and nosebleeds,” said Jill Sirmon, Dalton’s mother. “We went to the doctor a few times.”

Suspicious, Dalton’s pediatrician ordered some more tests, and in May of 2006, the Sirmons got the diagnosis. Dalton had ALL or acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Also called acute lymphocytic leukemia, it is one of the most common kinds of leukemia found in children. It is a cancer where the bone marrow (responsible for making most parts of blood) produces too many of one type of white blood cells. If not treated quickly, the disease if fatal.

“The doctor sent us up to Birmingham right away, said Jill Sirmon. “Three weeks later, Dalton was in remission. He responded well to the chemotherapy.”

While much went well medically, it was a frightening time for Dalton’s family. According to his mother, Dalton does not recall much of his treatment.

“We were pretty torn up,” said Danny Sirmon, Dalton’s father. Danny added that his father, Marshall, drove the family up to Birmingham for the first time.

“He had a few setbacks, and we had to stop the treatment a few times,” Danny Sirmon recalled. "We’re still worried, but after a year and a half (after chemotherapy) the odds go way up.”

For now Dalton’s family is rejoicing in the fact he is well.

“If you didn’t know he was sick, you’d never know now,” said Jill Sirmon as Dalton and Eathan played with the other youngsters.

Still, there are reminders. Dalton has to head to Birmingham at least once a month to be checked over. There’s still a scar (it will fade) from Dalton’s “port,” a permanent IV line doctors used to get his medicine into him. He still tires quickly, but that is expected to pass as he gets better.

“That (the trips to Birmingham) will go to every other month and then drop down,” said Jill Sirmon. “We have much to be thankful for. We have had so much community and family support.”

A big part of that support has come from Rosinton Elementary. When Dalton was hospitalized, Eathan often had to miss school so he could go with his family. That could have put a crimp in both boys’ education.

“The school has been great,” said Jill Sirmon. “The teachers all worked with us and it went so well.”

Now that everything is back to more or less normal, Eathan has some plans of his own.

“I want to be a wide receiver of Alabama,” he said, adding that when he graduates from college, he’d like to play for the Buccaneers.

Dalton says he likes to “fish for bass” with his father, and right now when he grows up, he’d “like to be a chef.”

Dalton’s favorite game is baseball, and he’s a Braves fan.