Marines help a young boy finish a triathlon

Marines shield

His mom was standing at the finish line, wondering what happened. 'It was only a mile, I knew he was tired, I was like, 'Where is he, where is he, where is he,' his mother, Kim Baltz, told CNN iReport. 'All of a sudden the announcer just said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to turn around and look at what's happening on the course' ... Everybody was crying. It was just very touching that the Marines were there. They picked him up and everybody was cheering and just giving them support and Ben support.'

Ben's mom said he was a little discouraged he wasn't able to finish on his own, and a bit embarrassed that he had to be carried, but his parents told him that he was an inspiration to a lot of people that day. 'We want to give him the message that he can do anything, and he has an inspirational story, and he just needs to be thankful that he is able to do it because there are a lot of kids out there that are still fighting cancer. We just want him to get out there and participate in life.'