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By GLENNA HANLEY
For the Daily Gleaner

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A seven-year-old city boy wants to find a cure for cancer. He started his quest last week, turning his birthday party into a fundraiser.

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The Daily Gleaner/James West Pho

GENEROUSITY OF SPIRIT AND PIGGY BANK: Seven-year-old Brier Jacobson holds up his birthday money and piggy-bank savings, while Mary Wheeler of the Canadian Cancer Society Western District holds up a receipt for $164. Jacobson decided that he wanted to donate his birthday money to help to find a cure for cancer.

Brier Jacobson convinced his parents Ryan and Nichole Jacobson he was OK with getting cash instead of gifts at his Aug. 30 birthday bash at Science East.

On Friday, Brier bundled up the $135 collected at the party, added another $29 from his own piggy bank and delivered the funds to the Canadian Cancer Society office on Queen Street.

Asked if he had any regrets that he didn't get any toys, Brier said; "Not really. I was fine with the idea. I do have a lot of stuff, so many I rarely play with a lot of it."

Accompanied by his dad and sister Carys, 4, Brier accepted a receipt for $164 from volunteer Mary Wheeler. He told Wheeler his mom asked the nine kids coming to his party to each bring $5.

"Some of them brought like $5 and more. And some brought more and more. I was expecting it to be a little bit, but it was a lot," said the Grade 2 student.

Wheeler was impressed with the donation and with the maturity of the young donor.

"I think he's an exceptional young man. He thought about this and who to give it to, all on his own," she said.

The idea of finding a cure for cancer came up in a family discussion about a year ago.

"He said he didn't know what he wanted to be, but he knew what he wanted to do: find a cure for cancer," said Ryan Jacobson.

Brier may have heard the parents talk about friends who have lost someone to cancer, his father said.

Two things likely planted the idea to donate the birthday cash.

This summer, Brier took part in the Fredericton Boys Fastball Association program where he got a book, Charity Glove, the story of a girl who bought a baseball glove and donated it to her local recreation department for a child who couldn't afford one.

"We had just read that book," said Jacobson.

The other was a newspaper article about a child who donated her gifts to a local charity.

Brier did have a second birthday celebration with family, his dad said, and there were gifts at that one.

Brier hasn't decided how he will celebrate his next birthday.