Zavier Jacuinde

January 2021

Here’s the narrative for Zavier (below).  He is being raised with his cousin, Elijah (12) as a brother.  They are very close and being apart has been extremely difficult for both of them while Zavier is in the hospital.  When you’re thinking about gifts for Zavier, I wonder if you might consider something for Elijah also.  Zay is so little that any toy is going to be exciting to him, but Elijah will get a lot out of being recognized.  I asked their mom for gift ideas.  She told me that Zavier loves tractors and tools, and Elijah is, like all 12 year olds, really into Fortnight.  Hopefully you can take that and run with it.  

 Zavier is a curious, loving and smart 2 year old boy who was born with Achondroplasia, a type of bone disorder that causes dwarfism. Everything started in December 2019 with him being life flighted to Doernbecher because an MRI showed he had stenosis of forman magnum (the base of his neck fluid was not moving, which is also common for Achondroplasia). The doctors decided to wait to see if as Zavier got older it would correct itself. At Zavier’s two month follow up it showed it had gotten worse. In March he had surgery to fix it. On June 22nd, 2020 we had his follow up to this surgery and the MRI showed he had a tumor. With Zavier having the Achondroplasia we knew he could have many difficulties, but we never expected him to have to face this scary situation. On July 23rd, 2020 he had a 13 hour surgery to remove the tumor. On July 28th the doctors called and told us that the tumor was cancer, also known as Medulloblastoma, and they wanted to start chemo right away. On August 1st we started his 1st of 6 rounds of chemotherapy.  Being away from home and admitted in the hospital is really hard for Zavier, and for our whole family, but we’re looking forward to getting to the end of this very long treatment journey.

Thank you for helping this family.  What is not included in their description is that they have virtually no income.  Zavier’s father also has achondroplasia and is disabled.  He works on a farm, but is paid in-kind with meat, not in money.  Crystal is a medical assistant, but she hasn’t worked since Zavier has been born because he’s had so many medical needs.  They’re such a sweet family, and considering how little they have, really don’t ask for much.   If there is availability to send a check sooner than January, I know it would have a huge impact on their Christmas.