(ABC 6 News) – In Rochester, one young Mayo Clinic patient got quite the surprise from some special guests as he fights a rare and aggressive form of cancer.

Gabriel Joseph Downey is just five years old, and is already in the fight of his life against rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare type of cancer growing in his muscle tissues.

This Christmas, however, Gabe has backup in the form of a platoon of soldiers from the Minneapolis Recruiting Battalion.

Dozens of active duty soldiers filled the room at St. Marys to show their support for Gabe in his battle with cancer, and offer one of his favorite things to collect — patches.

“Seeing him in uniform, fighting the fight that he’s fighting,” said SFC. Michael Davis, the Army soldier who put together the show of support alongside Gabe’s family and Mayo, “Knowing that I could try and make his Christmas a little bit better with the support of our organization, it was pretty cut and dry.”

Gabe’s mom, Riley Downey, is a six-year veteran herself, and his dad, Samuel Downey, was active for three years, so these soldiers are like family.

“It has taken me over two and a half months to get him to change the mindset of, ‘Keep fighting this cancer, you gotta kick it, keep going, keep going,'” said Riley. “When you hear a five-year-old tell you, ‘I don’t want to fight it. I don’t want to do this.’ That’s a little heartbreaking, and it took them a very short amount of time to change Gabe’s mindset and now he’s for it.”

It’s not the first time this family has been down this road either.

Gabe’s older brother, Oliver, was diagnosed with leukemia at three years old.

Now, ten years later, he’s in remission and one of Gabe’s biggest inspirations.

“Oliver’s been an amazing backbone for Gabe and a very good thing for him to look up to,” said Riley. “It has helped Gabe navigate this a lot.”

Gabe still has quite the road ahead of him.

Though his chemo treatments should be wrapping up around mid-February, he’ll still have regular scans until he’s 12.

“It’s been rough,” said Samuel. “He’s had a long road so far, and even though it’s not quite a year that he’ll be in treatment, it feels like an eternity.”