When your 7-year-old son tells you they believe they have cancer so that another child does not have to suffer, you are in awe of their selflessness at such an early age. When that son, now 40 with a new terminal cancer that has pediatric markers, reiterates that same sentiment, you know he is something special.

That is our son Joe.

Joe’s dying wish is to make a difference by donating his tissue to research. With the incredible resources and expertise of Gift From a Child, we – his parents – can honor that request.

His first brain cancer was diagnosed in 1991 when he was 7. At that time, he went by JP and was a happy and seemingly healthy child just about to enter the second grade. One day, JP took a tumble and when asked what happened, he said he did not know which sidewalk to walk on. Turns out he was experiencing double vision, so a doctor’s visit was in order.

In mere days, our world was turned upside down. Our son had medulloblastoma, an aggressive tumor in the brain stem that, at the time, was considered terminal. (Due to research and advances in treatment, the five-year survival rate has almost doubled!)

Through a harrowing surgery, a clinical trial that included radiation and chemotherapy, numerous setbacks, more than three dozen lengthy hospital stays over a two-year period, and multiple trips to Toys R Us, we made it through to the other side. At the time, JP’s survival was considered a miracle. In fact, he was featured as a Miracle Child for our hometown hospital’s annual telethon.