Eighteen-year-old Lofton Wheeles was by his mother’s side as cancer survivors, cancer patient care-givers, friends and family enjoyed the music of The Drive Time Band during the HOPE concert on the Covington Square, Sept. 27. It was fitting he was there, because after all he, in part, is the reason his mother was there. When Lofton was 10 months old, his mother Velinda Wheeles, wasn’t just watching the toddler learn to walk, raising a fourth grader and an eighth grader and being a part of the community in Opelika, Alabama. She was also entering into the biggest battle of her life.