Five-year-old Brayden Denton was an extreme superhero fan. Brayden’s superhero fascination started with Spider Man and then quickly took on every superhero out there.

“He was a huge Spiderman fan,” Brayden’s mother Staci Denton said. “He had to quit just liking Spiderman because he had all the toys. So really, he liked every superhero.”

This is why, when Brayden passed away on May 8 from a cancerous brain tumor, Staci decided to ditch the traditional funeral, and have one fit for a superhero. Instead of dresses and tuxedos, Staci wore a Spider Man t-shirt, Brayden’s uncle Cory Denton dressed as Thor, and each of the pallbearers dressed as Brayden’s favorite characters.

“It was hard, but I did it for him,” Cory said. “We went to the Superman movie with him and he was dressed up as Superman. I watched all the Ironman [movies] with him. He’s always here with me, and I’ll always watch [superhero movies] with him because he is always with me.”

Brayden’s heroic story was first aired in September 2013 by News 18. At that time, Brayden was fighting an intense battle with an aggressive brain tumor. As the months went on, Brayden continued getting worse, losing the ability to walk and talk. “He stopped completely walking,” Staci said. “We got through that hurdle. Then, he started not being able to eat or drink.”

That is when Staci took Brayden to Riley Hospital for Children, where he simply stopped breathing. Staci donated Brayden’s tumor for cancer research, and has been working with Senator Ron Alting to have Indiana recognize September as National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

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