🗞️ Brave like Bennett: a Kernersville 6-year-old beats the odds

🗞️ A Kernersville man may have North Carolina's oldest cat

🗞️ Next Step's Safe House fund is nearly halfway there

🗞️ Dangerous heat closes out the week

🌞 Sunny and dangerously hot | High: 96°F | Low: 73°F

Peak of the heat wave. Full sun, upper 90s, and a heat index near 100. Drink more water than you think you need and find shade in the afternoon.

Start with the good news, because this family waited months for it: the tumor is out, and it was not cancer.

Bennett Reel is 6, a student at Piney Grove Elementary, and a fan of monster trucks, baseball and the playground. Back in April, something was clearly wrong. He was getting severe headaches followed by vomiting, and it was his kindergarten teacher who first spotted the pattern and called his mom, Lauren.

"I would say my head hurts, my head hurts," Bennett said. "I would get a little louder every single time, and the last time was when I would throw up."

The family was told it might be a sinus infection, or that he needed glasses. Lauren pushed for another opinion and they were referred to Brenner Children's Hospital. After scans at several children's hospitals and a surgery to drain fluid from his brain, the headaches came back. Then doctors confirmed a tumor.

"That was kind of scary going from being called a lesion, or a bump on your brain, to a tumor," Lauren said.

Bennett gave it a name: Ralph, after Wreck-It Ralph, because it was beating up his brain. Three weeks ago a pediatric neurosurgeon in Memphis took it out. Last week the family learned Ralph was benign, a rare mass called an intracranial infantile hemangioma. It is so unusual that as of 2024 there was exactly one article written about it, and Bennett is the oldest person known to have had one. It was over an inch across and had been growing since he was born. His dad, Daniel, said even a surgeon who has done thousands of brain surgeries called it a zebra: "he just basically was like 'I have no idea.'"

The surgery almost did not happen. At the pre-op appointment, the family learned insurance was denying it. They called insurers, hospitals, nurses, a patient advocate, friends, family and even state legislators to get the case escalated. "It wasn't until 12 hours before the actual surgery that we knew for a fact that it was going to happen," Lauren said.

Asked how he stayed brave, Bennett had a simple answer: "Let them do the stuff and pray a lot." Daniel said that one landed. "There were a lot of people praying and we felt it. In our faith we believe in the power of prayer, and for him to notice, that's a proud dad moment."

Kernersville showed up for this family. There was a book fundraiser, a Pampered Chef fundraiser, a yard sale and a lemonade stand. His art teacher painted the rock outside the school to read "Brave like Bennett."

"Humanity is still alive and strong," Daniel said. "For us it has humbled us to see how many people genuinely just love Bennett, and they love us, and we're just grateful for that."

Lauren's advice for other parents is worth writing down: work with a patient advocate, and "don't stop advocating for your child, and then go with your mom gut." As for Bennett, beyond the t-shirts and bracelets, he wants to give away a white bike with "Brave like Bennett" stickers on it.

A GoFundMe for the family has raised about $16,900 of its $50,000 goal from 127 donors.

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Kernersville may have quietly taken a state title, and the champion weighs seven pounds and has one eye.

It started when a friend sent Devin Smith a July 7 story from WRAL's "Tarheel Traveler" series titled "North Carolina's Oldest Cat." The cat in that story, Cali, lives in Raleigh and was born April 25, 2005. Smith did the math on his own cat, Nala, and realized she has her beat by more than a month. Nala was born March 7, 2005.

Smith knows the exact date for a sweet reason. "She was born a couple of days after my daughter was born," he said. Two strays named Arrison and Garrison had a litter, something happened to the parents, and the Smiths kept all three kittens. It was, he admitted, a little crazy having a newborn and three baby kittens at once.

Nala was the runt and had a rough start. Her sister Bo scratched her eye out when she was 5, and she lost it. Both of her siblings have since died. But at 21, Nala is still going, and her vet calls her "my senior citizen." The average cat lives 14 to 16 years.

Smith has a theory about why. Nala stays outside about 90% of the time unless it drops below 40 degrees. "I think being outside so much rather than being cooped up has helped her age so well," he said. "She is missing a couple of teeth and stuff like that, but the vet says she is in really good shape, especially for her age."

These days she runs the house. "As she has gotten older she knows how to work me. If she wants something, she communicates, whether it is for food or water or she wants to be petted. We call her Queen Nala," Smith said. "She is very demanding, but very sweet and she would not hurt anything."

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A broken pipe in an upstairs bathroom did a lot of damage. Next Step Ministries' Emergency Safe House, which shelters survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, flooded badly enough to need plumbing repairs, new flooring, and rebuilt walls and ceilings. Household items and supplies have to be replaced too before anyone can safely move back in.

The repair bill is $30,000. As of this week the campaign has reached $14,700, which includes $9,700 in community donations plus a $5,000 matching grant from the Kernersville Foundation. That leaves $15,800 to go.

"We are incredibly thankful to everyone who has supported this campaign," said Next Step executive director Alexandria Hicks. "The generosity of our community has brought us nearly halfway to our goal, and we are asking for your continued support as we work to raise the final $15,800. Every donation brings us one step closer to ensuring survivors have a safe place to turn when they need it most."

Duane Long, who chairs the Kernersville Foundation board, said the timeline matters. Next Step is currently housing families in commercial accommodations, and he said the restoration needs to happen as quickly as possible.

Beyond the safe house, Next Step also provides crisis intervention, advocacy, court accompaniment and other support services. Donations are tax-deductible and can be made at nextstepdv.org by selecting the Safe House Recovery designation.

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Today is the one to respect. FOX8 has the Triad mostly sunny, hot and muggy, with highs in the upper 90s and a heat index near 100 at times. If you are working or playing outside, take real breaks in the shade or the air conditioning, and drink more water than you think you need.

Friday is not much of a break. Highs land in the mid to upper 90s with higher humidity, pushing the heat index into the low 100s, along with a 25% chance of rain.

Relief starts to arrive Saturday as the high pressure system responsible for all this begins to break down. Highs drop to the low to mid 90s with a 40% chance of storms, though the heat index will still be around 100. Sunday brings scattered afternoon and evening thunderstorms with highs near 90 and a 50% chance of rain.

A reminder while this lasts: never leave kids or pets in a parked car, check on older neighbors, and if you or someone around you gets dizzy, stops sweating or gets confused in the heat, treat it as an emergency and call 911.

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