Our Founders Story

Jaycee was born on Valentines Day 2013 and was our absolute ray of sunshine, she truly made our family of 5 complete. She has 2 older sisters, and they were the best of friends, their companionship and protective nature over Jaycee made her battle bearable.

In late 2020 Jaycee started developing several symptoms that couldn't be explained. She was constipated (or so we were told), had pain in one arm and felt nauseous at only certain times of the day. She was taken to multiple ER's and Urgent Care Facilities as well as her pediatrician with zero results and only frustrations when as a mother, my wife knew something wasn't right. She persevered and never gave up in her quest for answers. One day out of nowhere, and noticed by her sisters, her eye turned inward when she looked at you straight on, with this new concerning symptom she was rushed to an emergency eye appointment in which it was discovered that she had swelling on her optic nerve. This prompted a call from our pediatrician that had us rush to Milwaukee Children's Hospital immediately (about 6pm on our oldest daughter's birthday January 30th) where the ER was aware we were coming.

Upon arrival and after about a 2 hour wait, we were finally seen, vitals and symptoms checked, and a quick CT scan ordered. following this test, it wasn't long before the on-call doctor came in with the news ... "your daughter has a large mass in her brain, were going to get you admitted right away". This news was devastating, my wife broke down and I was in shock and mostly stared at Jaycee while she slept. We were soon taken to a room where we would meet our first doctor that would have us sign a form to surgically place a drain in her head to decrease the swelling, this form was signed on the back of a tissue box at around 2am. Soon after we were greeted by Child Life, a truly amazing group of people dedicated to ensuring things weren't as scary or misunderstood as they could be for a child in the hospital. So, while she explained at Jaycee's level what was going to happen, my wife and I quietly expressed our fears to each other and also our determination to make sure she got better.

Updates to this Story will Happen Daily ...