Basic Trope: A little kid who suffers from a terminal disease. Often notable for surviving absolutely everything... other than the disease itself.
- Straight:
- 8-year-old Clyde has leukemia. Aliens are attacking his hometown and many people die, but he survives it.
- The terminally ill boy is very mature for his age and used to bring out the softer side of mean and obnoxious Josh.
- Exaggerated: Clyde is dying of cancer, but you can shoot him point-blank with an anti-materiel rifle and he won't be harmed at all.
- Downplayed:
- Clyde can be killed by the attacking aliens, but he can survive anything that is less severe than that.
- Clyde is wheelchair-bound with a disease that won't kill him anytime soon, but that doesn't slow him down any.
- Clyde is a teenager with cancer.
- Justified:
- Clyde comes from a family of optimists, and always had a bright outlook on life before the illness.
- Clyde is extremely Genre Savvy, which explains his ability to survive.
- Inverted:
- Clyde makes a miraculous recovery from leukemia, but then aliens attack and he gets killed.
- Clyde is a 103-year-old man suffering from leukemia, who survives his city's destruction.
- Subverted: The heroes are attempting to evacuate the hospital, and realize when they're almost done that Clyde was left behind. One of them goes in to rescue him... and they're both still inside when the building is leveled.
- Double Subverted: It's a Disney Death, Clyde and his rescuer managed to slip out the back.
- Parodied: Clyde survives an alien invasion, a Zombie Apocalypse, several natural disasters, and his least favorite song being played on the radio.... then he dies of a cold.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: No kids get sick.
- Enforced: The producers do not want to have a child get hurt, but they still want to spread awareness of childhood cancer.
- Lampshaded: "It's weird. I survived the aliens, despite most of the city being killed, only to die of cancer."
- Invoked: Alice is left with an unenviable position where the only way her son Bob will survive is to choose another more distant doom for him and sadly she cannot take up his doom instead.
- Exploited: A Con Artist spins a sob story about a dying child to play on people's heartstrings and get them to give the Con Artist money. In fact, there is no child, either with or without cancer, and the money is not going to pay for that child's healthcare, or pay for the family's living expenses/the cost of moving closer to a specialized hospital or to support cancer research.
- Defied: 10 year old Clyde has cancer. The Big Bad and its Legion of Doom just happened to attack his town, killing all who opposed them, burning it to the ground and taking everyone as slaves. When Clyde is rounded up, the Big Bad notices his disease. Realizing Clyde won't make a good slave, rather than leave him behind knowing he's obviously going to die, the Big Bad promptly kills him right in front of everyone.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
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