It was a rarity to see Howell Brown Jr. without his son right there next to him working on the family farm in Clyde.

“All I ever wanted was a little boy. Me and him, we’re closer than anybody,” Brown said. “I couldn’t order any fellow that would make me any happier.”

At 9 years old, Howell Brown III loved spending time with his father, helping with the animals and raising his calves and chickens for 4-H. When he wasn’t at school, he could usually be found with his father riding on the tractor and doing chores around the farm, but all that changed in the fall of 2012.

“Little Howell” began having headaches and nausea. Trips to the doctor yielded little information.

“The doctor kept giving him antibiotics and said it was his sinuses,” Howell Jr. said.

Finally, an MRI was recommended and what ...