Like many other boys his age, 5-year-old Michael J. Van Brocklin loves everything about construction, from the noise and dust to the roar of machines.

Unlike other children, Michael typically sees his favorite equipment — bulldozers, backhoes and levelers — while on his way to and from weekly chemotherapy sessions in Syracuse.

Starting in January, Michael began the journey from his Watertown home nearly every Friday for treatments designed to stop a slow-growing tumor in his brain.

Each time they traveled down Interstate 81, the Van Brocklin family would pass by Tracey Road Equipment in the town of Watertown, and Michael would point out the equipment to his parents, Jeffrey M. and JoAnne M.

"He knows if they've sold something or if something is new," Mrs. Van Brocklin said. "On the way here he said, 'Where is my tractor place?'"

On Monday, Michael arrived at Tracey Road Equipment off Cady Road with an entourage of family, including his brother, sister, grandparents and uncle, for a turn at operating the heavy machinery he had admired from the highway.

The visit had been coordinated two weeks earlier between the Van Brocklins and Tracey personnel as a special outing designed to distract the 5-year-old, at least temporarily, from his long and difficult course of chemotherapy.

"He can look on it when times are bad," Mrs. Van Brocklin said. "It will remind him of the good times."

Michael, who wore sneakers with dump trucks on them and a shirt with the words "heavy hauler," held his parents' hands as he walked into the Tracey yard.

He was presented with a small hard hat with his name airbrushed on the back, but he chose blue earmuffs when it came time to climb into a cab with John J. Delong, a construction equipment salesman.

Polite and shy around the crowd of unfamiliar adults, Michael's reluctance seemed to vanish behind the wheel. With the help of Mr. Delong, he drove a wheel loader, maneuvered a vibratory roller and used the long arm of an excavator to move piles of dirt.

His face, a study in concentration, would every so often light up with a small smile.

Michael's love of machines started several years before when the boy, then 2, watched the construction of the family's new home, Mrs. Van Brocklin said.

That was a year before Michael started having stomachaches and complaining that "his nose felt funny." At age 3, Michael started visiting the doctor's office for what was initially deemed lactose intolerance and post-nasal drip.

Then Michael began having seizures. An MRI revealed a tumor in his brain. Doctors told the devastated family that the tumor, stage 2 astrocytoma, was both operable and benign.

In August, brain surgery to remove the majority of the tumor left Michael with a scar shaped like a question mark on one side of his head. Although the operation was deemed a success, a follow-up scan three months later revealed that the tumor had started growing again.

"It was the second worst day of my life," Mrs. Brocklin said.

Michael started weekly chemotherapy treatments Jan. 18. While the tumor has been stable since then, the treatments will continue over 14 months.

"He's an amazing kid. Even when he's sick, he doesn't complain," his sister, Jennifer A. Lawrence said. "It's scary enough for us, and we're grownups. I can't imagine being 5 and going through it."

The trip to Tracey Road Equipment was arranged by freelance industrial photographer Robert "Bob" Polett of Pennsylvania, who had heard about Michael but had never met him.

Company officials readily agreed to the visit, especially since employees felt an instant connection to the Van Brocklin family, branch manager Joseph P. Natali said.

"We've got a lot of younger people here, and they've all got kids or grandkids," Mr. Natali said. "We worked on a date and the guys got together to see what he'd like for lunch."

Along with pizza and hot dogs, employees gathered two die-cast trucks, several caps and the Tracey hard hat to give Michael.

"It makes me feel good that he's enjoying himself," said retail and sales coordinator Donald T. Cannan, who spent the afternoon helping Michael into the cabs. "It'll take the excitement out of a Tonka truck."

Mr. Cannan said the experience was bittersweet, because a tumor had brought Michael to Tracey.

The Tracey effort was the latest in a series of generous gestures, Mrs. Van Brocklin said. Doctors in Syracuse have often given Michael toys during his visits, she said. In July, the Make-A-Wish Foundation will send the family to Disneyland in California so Michael can meet Darby from "My Friends Tigger and Pooh."

Watching Michael from across the yard, Mrs. Van Brocklin said a year of hospital visits had made her son much more reserved.

"Every time we took him out of the house, it wasn't for a good thing," she said. "He's gotten better. He's kind of nervous with new stuff now."

After his rides were over, Michael buried his face in his mother's hair and told her softly that he had liked "everything." Queries about his favorite ride or the best part of his day didn't seem to interest him much.

It wasn't until lunch was winding down and the questions rolled around to the future that Michael began to perk up. He said he wanted to grow up to be a construction worker, even though such a job was dirty and might require a bath afterward.

Asked what machine he would like to operate, Michael didn't hesitate.

"A backhoe," he said. "I'm saving all my pennies to get a backhoe."