Meet Nolan Madsen:

A bionic 8-year-old boy who defeats a villain named Venom? Sounds like something straight out of an action-packed blockbuster. For Nolan, it’s just something he had to overcome to get back to his preferred kind of action: playing baseball.

Nolan was 8 years old when he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. KellyAnn says, “We wanted to give the cancer a name, but neither of the children knew what cancer really meant or how scary that is.” So when Nolan suggested they call his tumor “Venom,” it was a done deal. “We nicknamed it ‘Venom,’ like the bad superhero we were gonna go in and get out,” Scott says.

Nolan started chemotherapy right away and wasted no time securing hero status. Even while going through treatments, Nolan literally stepped up to the plate—going to baseball practices with a walker while awaiting surgery. He played games with tubes hanging out under his jersey. He was unstoppable.

Nolan’s femur was replaced with an expandable titanium device that his doctors can lengthen as he grows, turning him into a bionic warrior. But what truly makes Nolan a superhero is his unbreakable spirit.

“He just exudes positivity,” says Rob Riesing, Nolan’s physical therapist. “He wasn’t sure if he would ever walk again. He defied all the odds. And just to put that smile on his face and be positive and have the attitude he does—that’s why Nolan’s the miracle kid.”

For Nolan, it always comes back around to baseball. He says, “There’s this one game we had and we were down by a lot, and we just really pushed through it and we actually won the game. So that kind of relates to the hospital—there’s always a chance, and you can do it.”