A childhood cancer diagnosis, whether over a period of several years or merely a few days, is equally devastating. Jadyn Comer’s mom, Nicole, knows this first hand as she had only 3 days to digest little Jadyn’s diagnosis of medulloblastoma before he passed away.

Jadyn was nearly 2-years-old when he began to have sporadic bouts of what appeared to be an upset stomach. His mom Nicole brought him to the doctor’s numerous times, but his symptoms didn’t appear serious enough to warrant any concern beyond a diagnosis of a stomach bug or acid reflux. That all changed when shortly after his second birthday, Jadyn slept an entire day only waking to get sick. Jadyn was admitted to the local hospital for overnight observation. During the next 12 hours, Jadyn’s health deteriorated rapidly prompting the physicians to airlift him to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital where he was rushed into emergency surgery to remove a space occupying lesion on his brain. Five hours later, the doctors removed the entire tumor which was diagnosed as medulloblastoma. Despite being able to remove the tumor, Jadyn had severe swelling on his brain cutting off vital blood flow. Just three days after learning their son had cancer, Jadyn’s parents learned that he no longer had any brain function or activity and made the gut wrenching decision to discontinue life support.

Nicole remembers Jadyn as her “forever 2” year old little boy who always had a smile on his face and loved to say hi to anyone who walked by. His favorite colors were yellow and blue, he loved the movie “Cars,” mimicking his Grandpa, french fries and macaroni and cheese, and like many little boys – enjoyed playing with cars and any sport with a ball involved – particularly football as a fan of the Iowa Hawkeyes and Dallas Cowboys.

Despite their journey being a relatively short one, Nicole encourages other families going through a cancer diagnosis to lean on loved ones for support. She is encouraged that there is an army of people that fight and continue to fight as well as raise awareness about childhood cancer. Nicole certainly had different, more long-term aspirations for her son, but she continues to hope that he looks over and provides support for herself and her family as well as other children battling cancer.

To this day, Nicole continues to marvel at Jadyn’s joyful attitude despite what was going on inside his little body. He will always remain her hero.

Quote from hero: “Mama sis (sit) here.”

Information provided by Nicole, Jadyn’s Mom
August 2012