Meet Jaxson!

Jaxson just celebrated his ninth birthday, loves Harry Potter and cannot get enough of baseball. This month, the Hari Mari team got the opportunity to visit Jaxson, learn about his story & bring him a birthday surprise, courtesy of Cole Hamels.

When he was three months old, Jaxson was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis (NF) type 1. Neurofibromatosis impacts how nerve cells develop, causing tumors to appear on nerve endings. 

After his diagnosis, Jaxson was paired with an incredible team from Cook Children’s for observation, to ensure his tumors stopped growing. But, when he was two-years-old, Jaxson developed a lazy eye, leading to the diagnosis of an optic pathway glioma, a tumor at the end of his optic nerve. Unfortunately, Jaxson has lost sight in his left eye, but he continues to fight his diagnosis one day at a time! 

Jaxson has spent every Thursday this year receiving a new batch of chemo; but, thanks to his tenacious personality and the incredible staff at Cook Children’s, Jaxson will bid farewell to chemo on November 14th!!

To celebrate this milestone, we called in a favor from our favorite 4X All-Star MLB pitcher, Cole Hamels, who gifted Jaxson a signed Chicago Cubs jersey!

Thank you to Jaxson and his family, Cook Children’s, and Cole Hamels for making this visit possible!