BEDFORD COUNTY, PA. (WTAJ) – For Northern Bedford’s River Troutman, isolation isn’t in his DNA.

“He’s very bubly,” Kandy Troutman, River’s mom said. “He’s very active, he’s always outside. Fishing, hunting he loves to play soccer, loves the band.”

With his freshman year at Northern Bedford cut short due to COVID-19, River found more time to do he loved, until one afternoon.

“He said he didn’t feel well and that’s not like River to not go outside. He was in our downstairs and he ran up the steps that he was having trouble breathing and he just went pale, his lips turned white and he fell back on the couch and he said he couldn’t see. My husband and I both knew there was something wrong,” Kandy said.

Rushed to the children’s hospital in Pittsburgh, River received the news no wants to hear, lymphoma, cancer.

“When they tell you that it’s cancer and what questions you have , I don’t even think I would know what to ask. It really blindsided us,” Kandy said.

Going through chemo now on a regular basis, it’s a new normal for River, isolated from the world. However, one of his neighbors came up with an idea, a Facebook page with photos daily showing the #RiverStrong.

“We feel very blessed,” Kandy said.

And it’s only continued to grow.

“The community has been very giving towards River and our family,” Kandy said.

Extending beyond county and state lines.

“People in New York, Illinois, states all over, people that we didn’t even know.”

A little gesture, helping a boy and his family smile.

“We’re taking it one day at a time right now,” Kandy said.

River continues to go through chemotherapy to shrink the mast surrounding his heart, doctors say he’s in a two year fight, but the progress he’s showing is promising.