Some dads may fantasize about being a hero to their children — hitting the ball out of the park at the father/son baseball game or rescuing a kitten from a tree. But, it's not a red cape or death-defying feats that make fathers heroes, says Stephen Perrine, editor in chief of the men's monthly magazine, Best Life, it's really the ordinary things in life that elevate a father to hero. "We realize that just being a dad and being there, day after day, year after year, that's the heroic stuff," said Perrine. "The truth is, kids grow up to be proud of their dads because their dad is there day in, day out."

To Perrine and his staff, Fairfield resident Michael McCreesh, who lives in the Southport section, is just such a man and the winner of the magazine's recent Hero Dad contest. Out of 300 entries, McCreesh stood out.

The father of three — Madison, 6, Brent, 5, and Kira, 2, — McCreesh's son Brent was diagnosed with stage IV neuroblastoma in September 2004 at the age of 2. Neuroblastoma, according to the National Cancer Institute's Web site, is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in nerve tissue of the adrenal gland, neck, chest or spinal cord. It is a rare cancer that most often begins during early childhood, usually in children younger than 5. The American Cancer Society estimates that 10,400 new cases of childhood cancer will be diagnosed this year. Of those, 759 children will have neuroblastoma.

At the time of Brent's diagnosis, McCreesh's

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wife, Dana, was pregnant with their third child. While the couple shares the responsibilities of taking Brent to treatments, it was dad who, more often than not, was with his son at the hospital and with him for his 12 surgeries. This week, he was with him in Boston at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children's Hospital for Brent's six- month checkup, a checkup that includes days of very thorough testing.

Brent was started on chemotherapy at Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital three days after his diagnosis because of the aggressive form of cancer he has, said McCreesh. The chemo was to shrink several tumors Brent had before doctors could operate to remove them. Two stem cell transplants followed at Children's Hospital Boston.

Similar to procedures for children who have leukemia, Brent's stem cells were collected and the good cells were separated from the bad, then stored for four months, said McCreesh. When Brent was ready, he underwent high doses of chemotherapy before the good cells were transplanted back into his body. The doctors did this twice, which seems to be more effective than doing it once, said McCreesh. The first transplant began on April 13, 2005, and the second started on June 3, 2005, he said. "For transplants, 50 percent of kids relapse and almost all relapses occur within three years [of the transplant]," he said.

Brent is at a milestone, having passed two-thirds of the way to his three-year goal, said his dad. While McCreesh hesitates to say Brent is in remission until the three-year mark, he does say Brent "is disease free. "When he came out of the transplants, he had no evidence of disease; it got rid of it all," said McCreesh. "There is no cause and no cure [for neuroblastoma]. The survival rate 10 years ago was zero. Now it's around 40 percent, which is an amazing number."

Through it all, Brent has been an inspiration.

"He's been amazing," said his dad. "He got sick one night through all his rounds of chemo. The rest [of the time], he was smiling."

McCreesh became involved with the St. Baldrick Foundation in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., which raises money for children with cancer. Every year on St. Patrick's Day, the group has a fundraiser where volunteers have their heads shaved and sign up sponsors who donate money to the cause. The McCleeshes organized TeamBrent, which has become the charity's No. 1 fundraiser for the last two years, said McCreesh.

"In 2005, 23 of us [shaved our heads] on short notice and raised $87,000," McCreesh said. "This year 360 people came, 100 were children, and we raised $425,000," he said.

In three years, the total money raised by TeamBrent is nearly $750,000.

McCreesh's community efforts to raise money and awareness for neuroblastoma also include the annual PanMass Challenge, a bike trek across Massachusetts, which takes place in August. TeamBrent Wheels has raised $400,000 to date, which goes to Dana-Farber and Children's Hospital Boston.

In April, McCreesh, 38, who works for Goldman Sachs, an investment and securities firm in New York, ran the Boston Marathon, raising $13,500.

To date, the combined efforts of TeamBrent has raised $1.3 million to fight cancer, he said. This commitment to his community sealed the deal for Perrine to choose McCreesh as Best Life's Hero Dad. "If we think of the ethos of what the Best Life stands for — it's being able to meet challenges, taking care of self, family, employees, community — and Mike did all those things — and rising to meet an extraordinary challenge facing him and his son," said Perrine.

Launched about four years ago, Men's Health is a brother magazine to Best Life, said Perrine, but with a slightly different audience.

"Ours tends to be a little older, wealthier. We're looking to reach the man in a managerial role who is looking to balance responsibilities that come with success. And that's why, to my mind, Mike McCreesh was the perfect selection for the Hero Dad contest," he said. "Fatherhood is an important part of our mission and unique among men's magazines."

Roland Warren, president of the National Fatherhood Initiative in Gaithersburg, Md., said his organization was involved with the contest from the start and admires Best Life magazine for its commitment to covering fatherhood. After reading the contest entries, what stood out for Warren about McCreesh was that he was involved, responsible and committed to his family.

"Good fathers provide, nurture and guide & that makes them a hero dad," he said. McCreesh will be featured in one of the fall issues of the monthly magazine, Perrine said. The exact month has yet to be determined.

Dana McCreesh, who submitted her husband's name to the contest, said the family was shocked when they learned he won.

"It's an honor and very humbling," she said. "We've definitely met many more people who we would consider a hero & the doctors, nurses, the people who have stepped up in the community [to help us].

"To us, of course my husband is going to ride 200 miles for his son. But to see 500 other people shave their heads who don't have to, when we see that & I feel we were drawn into this and didn't have a choice and we watch people make these choices [to help]," she said.

Their proudest achievement, she noted, is that through their hardships, "we've kept the family together" and this Father's Day should be a peaceful one, she said.

As for Mike, he's still not sure why he was picked, saying, "I did what any other dad would do in this situation." While his young son knows about the contest, McCreesh said, "I don't think he understands what it means, [but] he calls me 'Hero Dad.' " Best Life is looking for its next Hero Dad. To nominate someone, visit Bestlifeonline.com.