Casie Nickerson, her daughter, and a family friend carried dozens of free LEGO sets into Dolly Parton Children's Hospital in Knoxville on Wednesday, completing the first official delivery from a foundation built entirely around an idea her 12-year-old son had while he was a patient there himself. The sets will let hospitalized kids of any age pick out a kit and keep it, no cost attached, a gesture that traces directly back to Landon Nickerson's own hospital stays before he died in May.
According to WBIR, Landon was diagnosed with diffuse midline glioma, a terminal brain tumor, in October 2025 and died on May 26, 2026, at age 12 — just 13 days after his birthday. He fought the disease for roughly seven months. During those long stretches in the hospital, building complicated LEGO Technic sets gave him something to focus on besides the illness itself, a mental escape that his family says planted the seed for what would become Landon's LEGO Cart Foundation.
An Engineer's Mind, Even in the Hospital
Landon had an engineering-minded streak and a particular love for motorized Technic builds, the station's report notes, and it was that fascination that turned into the foundation's entire premise: give other kids stuck in hospital beds the same outlet he found for himself. The Maryville-based nonprofit is now working to stock kits spanning every age range, from infants to teenagers, so any hospitalized child can find something that fits, per the same account.
To pay for that inventory, the foundation sold fundraising T-shirts printed with a cross, a nod to Landon's Christian faith, as detailed by Knox TN Today. There's also a more personal layer to what's being donated: some of the LEGO sets going to other patients are ones supporters gave directly to Landon during his treatment that he never got the chance to finish, according to his obituary from Smith Funeral & Cremation Service, which notes he received dozens of sets from supporters across East Tennessee.
A Hospital That Bears Dolly Parton's Name
The delivery landed at a facility that only recently changed its name. In February, East Tennessee Children's Hospital was officially rebranded as Dolly Parton Children's Hospital following a partnership with the East Tennessee native, according to AP News. The 152-bed hospital has served the region for nearly 90 years, and Hoodline previously reported on efforts tied to Parton's growing local legacy.
Before his death, Landon had already become something of a fixture in the Knoxville community. In March, neighbors organized a benefit car show to support the then-11-year-old and his family during treatment, and he was known locally as an active BMX rider at Baker Creek Preserve before his diagnosis, per The Cure Starts Now.
The Medicine Behind a Grim Diagnosis
Landon's cancer, diffuse midline glioma with H3K27 alterations, is classified by the World Health Organization as a Grade IV malignant brain tumor. The National Cancer Institute puts median survival at just 9 to 12 months, with fewer than 10% of pediatric patients surviving two years, because the tumor grows into deep midline structures like the brainstem and thalamus, making full surgical removal impossible.
During his treatment, Landon took part in PEPN2111, a Phase 1/2 clinical trial testing an experimental drug called CBL0137 in pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse midline gliomas, run through the Children's Oncology Group, according to ClinicalTrials.gov. His case reflects a wider gap in pediatric cancer care: brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer-related death among children in the United States, yet childhood cancer research receives less than 4% of total National Cancer Institute funding annually, as Hoodline has previously reported, a shortfall that pushes families toward experimental trials and community fundraising alike.
Wednesday's delivery marks the start of what Landon's family hopes will be an ongoing presence at the hospital that treated him, turning a child's own coping mechanism into something other families facing the same fight can lean on.
