Jayden was a perfectly healthy boy for 17 years and 3 months. He loves his family, his pets, his computer and gaming systems.  He loves this beautiful world God has given us and dreams of visiting as many beautiful countries, parks, states as possible. He has 3 sisters. With having 3 sisters he has built a demeanor of patience, kindness and being protective. At the time he was diagnosed he was 9 classes away from his high school diploma.  His free time was spent walking/hiking with mom and playing video games every night with dad. He has many cousins who look up to him and idol his gaming skills. In August 2024 Jayden had his wisdom teeth removed. So the 2-3 weeks post surgery we hacked his abnormal behavior to recovering from this. The sleeping more, eating less, headaches, slurring and occasional drooling. He just needed to adjust...right? Well then he fell and couldn't express what was happening.  I drove him to the ER thinking he's depressed, lazy, needs to be told to drink more water and healthier foods. Never ever did I expect that Jayden would have a 7cm tumor in his brain and so much swelling that he immediately needed a procedure.  He was immediately taken to the Neuro ICU at UT Hospital in Knoxville.  There they placed a catheter in his head to start draining the fluid. Had we waited even another 24 hours Jayden would've gone to sleep and not woken back up. The one drain wasn't enough, they had to place another catheter on the other side of his head. Eleven days of being in the Neuro ICU he had undergone a biopsy of the tumor and had a permanent shunt placed in his head. We had no idea what to think, what to do or what to prepare for. We just had these doctors coming into our room talking about starting radiation, starting chemotherapy, etc. We couldn't process it. I took him to the ER because he was being a lazy teenager not because he has cancer! While we didn't have the results of the biopsy we were told to prepare for the worst. It was a very large tumor in an inoperable location.  We were sent home not knowing where to begin. A few days later we received a call from St. Jude Hospital in Memphis. An oncologist from UT Hospital had referred us. About a week later we arrived in Memphis. We were told the biopsy results and the gut wrenching news. The tumor was DMG in his thalamus.  His new team of doctors recommended radiation and a clinical trial chemo pill called Selinexor.  They also informed us that our sons life was now given a time line of 9-18 months. Fast forward to 5 months. Jayden has completed 33 sessions of radiation and 9 treatments of chemotherapy.  His tumor continues to shrink but week by week a new hurdle is faced with side effects of medications, chemo toxicity,  hydrocephalus again, and the disease itself. This is a disease I wish I could've gone my whole life never knowing what it is. 

Thank you for choosing to donate to The Cure Starts Now Foundation. 100% of this donation, after credit card processing fees, goes directly towards research to find the homerun cure for cancer starting with pediatric brain cancer research.

If you would like to make a donation by mail please send a check to:  The Cure Starts Now Foundation; 10280 Chester Road; Cincinnati, OH 45215 and put the child's name in the memo.

The family receives notification of all donations made to this tribute fund automatically. Thank you again for giving.  The cure starts with you…The Cure Starts NOW!