When Reagan Buffum broke the tape at the finish line of the race held to raise money for his battle with cancer on Saturday, the excitement was all over his face.

He may not have completed the whole 3.1-mile course at Shieling Forest in Peterborough, but he finished. And Reagan did it on his own.

“He was bound and determined to do it,” said Mary Buffum, Reagan’s mom.

For any six-year-old, finishing a walk of a mile-plus is an achievement. Add in that Reagan is in the midst of a three-and-a-half-year treatment cycle for a form of childhood leukemia and his finish is all the more of a milestone.

“That’s exactly what I wanted to see,” said race organizer Cara Weiner, 17, of Peterborough, whose mom Kathy is friends with the Buffum family of Surry. “To see him cross the finish line and take the first stick was amazing.”

His latest hospital chemotherapy treatment was about three weeks prior to the race, and the further he gets from the treatment, the better he feels, though he still takes pills each day to help combat the disease, including a pill form of chemo.

Yet there was no way this little boy was going to let it keep him from taking part in all the fun.

“I was really nicely surprised that he walked the whole thing,” Buffum said.

On most days, his mom says, Reagan is like any other boy his age. He loves to play and if you didn’t know, you wouldn’t have a clue that he was sick at all.

I wrote a previous story about Reagan and what Weiner, a ConVal student, was doing to help the family, but I never got to see him. I just heard the few stories from his mom and Weiner.

Then on Saturday I got my chance. He was a little skeptical at first, shying away from my attempt for a high-five. Once his parents explained who I was, he gave me a classic fist-bump.

What this little boy has been through in his short life is such a foreign thought for most.

And he got his chance to thank all the people who had come out to support him and his family and it was done with his legs.

“Most of the people that were there and ran, I didn’t know,” said Buffum.

Everyone watched as Reagan held his older brother Patrick’s hand and karate chopped the finish line tape, earning the popsicle stick with the No. 1 on it.

It was a fitting moment for a little boy who has been through so much.

“It was like it was his Christmas,” Buffum said of the day. “He was so excited.”

The turnout was just about right. The run raised well over $1,000 for the family and Reagan got to be there.

“I had no idea how much we’d bring in, but I think this is definitely a great start for them,” said Weiner.

All she wanted was to help the Buffum family and there is no doubt that she did that.

The family has health insurance, but it’s the extra costs not covered that continue to pile up.

So while the money will undoubtedly help in the long run, it’s the little things, like having Reagan there, that will mean the most in the end.

He is still a little boy who needs that sense of normalcy, and Saturday sure gave him that.

Reagan got to show the group of 30 or so people the power of the human spirit, even if he has no idea that he did so.