Jedidiah was born December 23rd—the greatest Christmas gift his dad, mom, or big sister would ever receive. He was an easy, happy baby and little boy. As he grew, he was hungry to try everything; wanted to try every sport, did theatre, played drums, volunteered in school and his community, loved snowboarding, Disney, and fishing, and especially loved his family. Eventually, he became a lifeguard, Eagle Scout, captain of the swim team and his plan after graduating high school was to join the Coast Guard and train for search and rescue. Jed was everyone’s friend, was known for his kindness and—oh!—what a goofball he was! His greatest joy was making people laugh!

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Three weeks after graduating high school, we learned that Jed had a football sized tumor in his chest—sarcoma.

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Jed endured 8 months of treatment with chemo and radiation. He had surgery on April 6, 2015 at Sloan Kettering in NYC. The surgery was declared “miraculously successful” and we were told “this kid has years of life ahead of him.”

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Sadly… that is not how Jed’s story ends. He died just 46 hours after surgery from heart failure  caused by chemo and radiation—the “treatment.” It was the same treatment offered 50 years ago… because there are no new options for sarcoma and most pediatric cancers.

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We share Jed with you tonight in the hope that he continues to do good. That his life… and death help bring about change for future kids. The boy with the biggest heart would want that.