Milwaukee teenager with leukemia to get shoutout from Summerfest headliner

MILWAUKEE (CBS58) -- One local teenager battling cancer will receive a special message from his favorite band.

Jacob Peters is your average teenager who just graduated from Whitnall High School this year. He is also a huge fan of the Zac Brown Band.

"I just like their music, how they sing, just how they are in general," Peters said.

His parents got him tickets to see the band as a present last year.

"I put a calendar reminder and was online right when they went on sale, so we gave them that present for Christmas," mom Kelly Peters said.

The 18-year-old met CBS 58 reporter Stephanie Rodriguez via Zoom on Thursday. He was in his hospital room at Children's Wisconsin waiting for a bone marrow transplant. In February, Peters was diagnosed with leukemia, a type of blood cancer.

His team of doctors at the hospital were able to work his transplant around his high school graduation, allowing him to accept his diploma in-person.

"It was really hard for him, but he still has a really positive attitude," Kelly Peters said.

Though he was able to cross the stage, he will not be able to see the Zac Brown Band at Summerfest because he needs to receive chemotherapy and radiation before the transplant.

"I am a little bummed, I was really hoping to see them in concert," Peters said.

When mom Kelly Peters tried to donate their tickets to the Friday concert, a local organization decided to reach out to the band to share the Peters' story. The band has said they will be sending Peters a personalized message.

"I'm happy to hear that, that's amazing. I don't know really what to say. I'm very, very grateful right now. That's amazing," Peters said when he heard the news.

"It sheds a nice light on a very dark situation that I'm going through. To have something that I can remember not just as a very bad experience, but I also had a very good experience too."

The Peters' family encourages others to donate to local children's hospitals to help them continue helping families like theirs.

Peters will have his bone marrow transplant next Thursday.