Jason’s House gives hope to families of children with cancer

While groans of despair often resonate from children hesitant to end their summer vacations to return to school, 14-year-old Dewayne Jackson said he cannot wait to return to his Lumberton, N.C., eighth-grade classroom.

In Myrtle Beach this week as a guest of Jason’s House, the church ministry of Surfside United Methodist Church, the quiet young man said he is most excited about spending time on his vacation shopping for new school clothes and supplies.

Dewayne, currently in remission from Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and his family, John and Mary Jackson and 16-year-old brother John Jackson Jr., are taking a respite from the stress of battling cancer.

“Dewayne was very ill at one time. Praise God he’s in remission,” John Jackson Sr. said, after checking in at the church fellowship hall and preparing to kick-start the family’s vacation with a gratis meal at Damon’s Grill.

Diagnosed with cancer of the lymphatic system last year, Dewayne attended school three months before being diagnosed with the disease that compromises the immune system. The weakened immune system, along with his treatments, forced Dewayne into a home-school setting.

With a year filled with doctor visits and medical treatments that can consume parents’ time, John Jackson Jr. said he just looks forward to spending some relaxing time with his family.

The Jacksons are one of 14 families who arrived on the Grand Strand this weekend as guests of the Jason’s House mission. The church adopted the mission 31 years ago after Jim and Linda Lewis settled in the area following the death of their 6-year-old son Jason who lost his battle with cancer.

Jason’s House, not an actual structure, was inspired by the idea that their son would have loved being at the beach. They could see the value in bringing families to the area to relax from the stresses of caring for a child with a life-threatening disease. A drawing of a house with a child standing outside, made by their young son before his death, is the symbol that represents Jason’s House.

Elaine Page chairs the Jason’s House project and she said about 200 volunteers, both church members and others in the community, keep the mission thriving.

Families are selected through a partnership with doctors, nurses and social workers at 14 hospitals in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia. Area businesses along the Grand Strand donate their services to provide free accommodations, food and entertainment for the 50 to 60 families who visit each summer from June to August.

Arriving from Augusta, Ga., Carolyn Oakman’s family was referred to Jason’s House after 7-year-old Hannah Oakman underwent surgery for removal of a Wilms’ tumor, the most common cancer of the kidneys in children ages 3 to 4.

“Hannah was diagnosed in May at age 7, which is rare,” her mother said.

She said Hannah kept complaining that her stomach hurt and was running a temperature. After several visits to the doctor, an ultra sound and MRI revealed the large mass on the right kidney, which was quickly removed.

“It all happened so quickly,” Carolyn Oakman said.

Carolyn Oakman said within a week’s time, the disease had been diagnosed and surgery performed. Since then, Hannah has undergone 11 chemotherapy treatments and will need to be home-schooled due to her weakened immune system. However, her mother said, her prognosis is good.

Running around like the Energizer bunny, Hannah was enjoying herself taking a ride in a convertible offered by the Grand Strand Corvette Club and spending time with some Surfside Beach firefighters. A kid seemingly just happy to be alive and who says she wants to be a cancer doctor so she can help people, Hannah said her favorite part of the trip so far was riding the fire truck and “honking the horn.”

Connecting with Jason’s House ministry has meant more to Carolyn Oakman than just a free vacation. She said since her first phone conversation with Page sorting out the details of her family’s visit, she has been overwhelmed by the experience.

“Not only do they provide a trip, over the last two months Elaine has provided consolation to me. She provides me with spiritual inspiration. She checks on Hannah. God has placed good people in my life,” Oakman said.

Among those good people are volunteers like Pat Hicks, president of the Corvette club who has volunteered with Jason’s House for a decade. Hicks said club members take turns greeting families who arrive each summer and taking the children for rides in the parking lot while their parents check in at the church fellowship hall.

“We’ve had some pretty amazing things happen,” Hicks said. He told an emotional story about Timmy Smith, a 20-year-old with terminal brain cancer and a life expectancy of three months when he came to Jason’s House earlier this summer.

“We took him for a ride and he was laughing and giggling and after we parked, his dad said his family was watching him take the ride and saw him smiling. They said he had not smiled in over two years,” Hicks said.

Hicks said when Smith came inside the fellowship hall, he asked if he could play the piano to play his mother’s favorite song.

“His family said he had not felt his fingers in years,” Hicks said. “Apparently the experience unlocked him.”

Capt. Prentice Williams of Surfside Beach Fire Department said Page provides a list of dates each summer to the department in hopes a truck can be sent on registration days to help entertain the visiting children. Saturday, he and two other firefighters were on hand to help put smiles on those little faces.

“You know illness may take their life away so any time you can put a smile on a child’s face, it’s always good,” he said. Williams said seeing a terminally ill child makes him reflect on his own children and just appreciate life.

Prior to his wife losing her fight with breast cancer in 2011, Lee Ritchey and his wife were both volunteering with Jason’s House. Ritchey sees Jason’s House as a “great ministry that really touches the community.”

“Having gone through it, I better understand how hard it is on caregivers,” Ritchey said. He noted that fighting a terminal illness can be very hard on marriages, and unfortunately, some spouses choose to walk away. That is why Jason’s House and all its supporters focus on providing a respite for the whole family and not just the sick child.

“I think they are going to have a great opportunity to have a peaceful time with their families and be happy,” new volunteer Shirley Sikkema said of the visitors.

Sikkema who lost her husband to cancer 14 years ago added, “Just to see these kids happy is a great thing and the families are so appreciative.”

This story was originally published August 24, 2015 at 6:20 AM with the headline "Jason’s House gives hope to families of children with cancer."