Jason

Jason was a lion of a baby. He fought cancer with a smile on his face at all times. His family shares, "We had our dark and tense moments, but his bright blue eyes reminded us that it was never the time to give up."

Jason was diagnosed with ATRT at 11 months old. His family flew from Italy to Memphis, and he started treatment in August 2019. He has been NED since resection, and we’re so very grateful for this. He went through maintenance treatment in 2020 and worked really hard every day to learn how to walk, talk, and properly use his left arm. 

August 17, 2020 - Update for his 2nd Birthday: 

Jason is happily recovering from the LAST round of maintenance chemo sealing off the long awaited end of treatment. The next scans will take place at St. Jude on September 8th. He’s working hard to overcome the radiation necrosis that ensued in May, one of the many side effects that complicate the life of all these little fighters to various extents. 

Right now he’s alive, he’s well, he’s smiling and enjoying life, and this is plenty to be grateful for, to EVERYONE who has supported him, directly and indirectly. We hope one day we’ll be looking back to these moments that forged in him the resilient warrior he has become, fighting off the shadow of relapse that our cancer survivors have to deal with.

August 17, 2021 - Update for his 3rd Birthday: 

We are exactly one year off treatment but the challenges don’t stop coming. This time around we are dealing with mild seizures but he’s not letting them slow him down and he’s starting preK soon. He’s looking forward to making lots of friends and learning new things!

August 17, 2023 - Update for his 5th Birthday: 

Jason had a quite eventful year. He finally went through his epilepsy surgery in March, and it was a complete success! We haven’t seen any more seizures since then, and we’re slowly weaning off the meds that clouded his mind. He has made strides and has come an incredibly long way from where he was a year ago.

He just started Kindergarten and loves all his classmates and teachers.

He’s our pride and joy, and he inspires us daily with his positivity and strength.

We know the road ahead is still long, and we’ll most likely incur more bumps, but for now, we learned to stop and appreciate the joy and serenity we’re given.

We’re blessed beyond belief to still have him here, celebrating his 5th birthday.