Two best friends battling cancer side by side at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta celebrated a major milestone together, ringing the end-of-treatment bell at the same moment after months of supporting each other through surgeries, chemotherapy, and fear.

John Paul "JP" Thomas was a varsity tennis player at Whitfield Academy in spring 2025 when he was diagnosed with cancer at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

In September, his closest friend, local soccer standout Camilo Henao, learned he, too, had cancer. On the day JP began his final round of chemotherapy, Camilo and his family arrived at the Arthur M. Blank Hospital for Camilo's surgery. The two families ran into each other in the elevator, unsure whether to take a photo of the moment, wondering, "Is this appropriate?"

Before Camilo's diagnosis, he regularly visited JP in the hospital. Later, JP made those same trips to be by Camilo's side. Both teens leaned on each other through what their families described as the unimaginable.

JP's mother, Tish, said her son was more shaken by Camilo's diagnosis than his own. When JP's oncologist, Dr. Ryan Summers, mentioned scheduling JP's end-of-treatment bell ringing, JP refused to celebrate without his friend.

"I'm waiting for Camilo," he told his doctor. According to Tish, it wasn't even a question for him. "It didn't register to him to consider anything else."

On Nov. 21, surrounded by dozens of relatives and friends in the Egleston Garden at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, the two young men stood shoulder to shoulder and rang the bell together as best friends.

Both have now returned home to their families, just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday.