- November 27, 2024
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With a telescope in hand and a bearing in mind, 5-year-old Ayden Jolicoeur walked up the plank to the deck, on the pirate ship that now stood in his back yard. With his father, Jason Jolicouer, behind him and a crew of builders from Team Depot watching, Ayden climbed the tower and took the wheel. It was time to sail.
The ship was Ayden’s dream, granted by Dreams Come True of Jacksonville, a wish-granting organization for children battling life-threatening illnesses.
Ayden was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a high-grade cancer, in 2010.
Ayden’s story
In the spring of 2010, Ayden’s parents noticed issues with his right leg. After no diagnosis at the local hospital, Ayden and his family were sent to Nemours Children’s Clinic, in Jacksonville. Immediately, doctors there conducted an MRI. He was admitted that evening.
“You never think you’ll have to be there,” Shana Jolicoeur, Ayden’s mom, said.
Ayden was diagnosed with a spinal tumor April 28, 2010. Five days later, he underwent a seven-hour surgery to have the tumor removed. However, neurologists could only remove 30% of the tumor. This was just the beginning.
Shana and Jason stayed in Wolfson Children’s Hospital with their son for two weeks waiting for answers.
The first reports from pathology were inconsistent. Meanwhile, Ayden and his family traveled to Brooks Rehabilitation for four weeks of intense physical therapy.
“It’s difficult to watch your child having to learn to walk again,” Shana said.
While Ayden plowed though physical therapy with determination, the pathology results finally came back. The tumor was a grade-4 glioblastoma. Doctors said he should be expected to live two years.
“For me, to take six years to get pregnant with this child, and then for them to turn around and tell me he has two years, and may not make it until his sixth birthday, which gave me six years with him — no, I’m not having that,” Shana said. “I’m still not having that.”
The Jolicoeurs stayed in Jacksonville with their son from June to September, while Ayden struggled through chemotherapy and proton therapy.
“When they give you a time frame, that opens your eyes, and you want to be able to provide everything for him,” Jason said. “You don’t want to spoil him, but it is what it is.”
Enter Dreams Come True and Team Depot, from The Home Depot.
No parent wants to ask a child to think about his final dream, but that’s what the Jolicoeurs had to do.
For Ayden, it was simple. He wanted a pirate ship in his backyard.
Before he became sick, Ayden played on a pirate ship in Port Orange a couple of times, and his father thinks that’s where the idea came from.
Funded by Dreams Come True, a group of Team Depot volunteers gathered at 9 a.m. Sept. 22, at the Jolicoeur residence, to build Ayden’s dream ship. For six hours, the team hammered through the rain and intricate design to give Ayden a place to play.
“For Ayden, it gives him a chance to go outside,” Jason said. “With his diagnosis, it’s hard for him to go out in the heat … so this will hopefully give him a chance to spend some quality time with his friends and his family in the backyard.”
Stability
A year and a half after his surgery, Ayden’s tumor is stable, and his chemo has been reduced from once a week to once a month, with his last session scheduled for November.
Doctors continue to monitor the tumor every three months, and every three months, Ayden’s parents relive the worry and agony of not knowing, for 24-hours, while they wait for the results.
But Ayden’s mother believes that her son is a fighter, taking after his grandmother, who is an ovarian cancer survivor.
“He has her blood. He’s going to make it. He’s going to be fine,” Shana said.
