Kids get big surprise after giving up field trip for sick friends

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. -- As two children in one classroom battle cancer, their fellow students are showing support in a big way.

A second grade class at Renfro Elementary was going to go on a field trip to the St. Louis Science Center, but that trip never happened. Instead, they decided to help out their friends who have cancer.

"I've had amazing kids every single year I've been teaching," said their teacher, Shauna Chilton. "But this year, the compassion, and the love, they just care for one another."

And as these teachers will tell you, this class is especially caring toward two of their classmates, Santiago Quevedo and Dorrian Blackwell.

"Every time Santiago and Dorrian would be out, they would say, 'Oh let's save this cupcake for them or let's wait and do this project when they return.'"

In all their years of teaching, they've never had a student in their class who's battled cancer, let alone two.

"We both have to go through treatment," said Dorrian Blackwell.

Dorrian was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Santiago was diagnosed with a common childhood cancer of the kidney.

Their classmates hate seeing them miss class for chemotherapy.

"Sad because they miss a lot and they're very close friends to me," said their classmate Henry Bauer.

"Missing them," said another classmate, Morgan Laing.

The class knew they couldn't cure them, but wanted to do something to help. So they gave up their field trip to the St. Louis Science Center and used all the money that would have been spent on that trip to help their classmates and other children who have cancer.

"We asked them, do you want to do something for your community or do you want to go on a field trip and they immediately jumped and said, 'We'll do something for the community,'" said Chilton.

The gift they bought was 2,400 books to give to the hospitals where their classmates receive chemotherapy.

"We wanted to give books to other children to make them happy," said Bauer.

"We were doing a good deed," agreed Lang.

When TV station KSDK told the St. Louis Science Center how the kids chose to give up their trip, the CEO himself wanted to deliver a message to the kids in person. Neither the kids or the teachers were expecting Bert Vescolani, president and CEO of the St. Louis Science Center, to walk into their classroom.

Watch the video above to see the students' reaction to the big news.

"It would be really cool if we could give you the other choice, which is taking a trip to the St. Louis Science Center. So, we are going to give you a trip to the St. Louis Science Center in honor of Santiago and Dorian," he said.

Chilton was surprised by the announcement.

"It's just amazing, I don't know, it's amazing, thank you," she said.

And now whenever Santiago and Dorrian go to the hospital, they'll always be reminded of the good deeds of Renfro Elementary.

"It's pretty awesome," said Dorrian.

We have some more good news. One of the students in that classroom who has cancer, Santiago, is in remission.

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