It’s been three years since Jack came home from daycare with a limp, marking the beginning of his fight with stage IV neuroblastoma, followed closely by a rollercoaster of triumphs and relapses that have only made his family’s bond stronger. But now oceans apart and faced with a tragic update, their toughest battle is yet to come.
Jack was on a routine medical trip to New York with his mother, Jaimee, and brother, Ted, when a pain in his jaw became inflamed. After previously being told it was just his molars coming in, scans at a US hospital shortly confirmed the worst – he had relapsed a third time.
“It’s tough, trying to stay strong, trying to stay busy, surrounding myself with positivity, trying to understand the process of what’s to come. That we do have a path… Our options are not over,” Jack’s father, Trent, told Manly Observer as he tensely waited in his Freshwater home for his next day flight to see his family.
The father of two was still in Sydney when he learned the tragic news. Jack was supposed to receive the latest dose of his vaccine to assist in his recovery, discuss future treatments, and return home within three weeks. Weeks will now turn into months as he’s become too unwell to travel and is in urgent need of treatment.
“He’s just started chemotherapy, and tomorrow he starts radiation,” Jamiee told us over Zoom, sitting bravely in New York City alongside her eldest son Ted, who mirrors her strength as one of Jack’s biggest supporting pillars.
“It does mean that, unfortunately, Ted’s gonna have to go home to Australia and start school, and his dad’s coming over to kind of almost pick him up and take him back, and Jack and I will stay here for treatment. Which is just, you know, I can’t even begin to think about how horrible that’s going to have to be to say goodbye.”
The family will soon begin the experimental PEACH trial available only in the US. In a nutshell, the treatment develops a personalised vaccine which reprograms Jack’s T-Cells to understand, target and fight his cancer cells. However, this comes at a cost.
Accommodation and navigating the American medical system is not cheap, and in a desperate plea, the family has turned to the community to help save their son, and with inspiring results. So far, fundraising through their GoFundMe and ‘Pieces for Jack’ has given them a fighting chance to afford the potentially life-saving treatment.
It’s not the first time in their three-year journey that they’ve been forced to extend their hand, nor is it the first time the community has gathered in great numbers to help.
“It’s hard to have to open up again and ask for help,” Trent shared.
“But, I also understand we have to do this, and we have to fight. We’re not taking the foot off the gas, and the people that we have helping us and the community, we feel the warmth, we feel the love… and I can’t thank you enough.”
This One’s A Fighter
Jack was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at age four in April 2023. Since then, he’s been to hell and back. While other kids his age are starting school, scraping knees and developing friendships, battling Jack’s playground was the hospital halls as he underwent numerous sessions of chemotherapy, remissions and relapses, with each one bearing a terrifying five per cent survival rate.
From Jack’s first remission, it was one battle after another. The first fight was rallying for the Australian Government to approve DFMO treatment in the country, which is proven to reduce neuroblastoma relapses by roughly 50 per cent. They were successful, but by this time, their son was back into chemo following a relapse in May 2024.
After winning this battle, he was back in remission, with the family exploring treatments in Europe and the United States. In November of the same year, theydecided to travel to New York City for a vaccine available at Memorial Sloan Kettering, the leading hospital for neuroblastoma treatment globally.
Frustratingly, three months of treatment overseas was again overshadowed by another relapse, followed by more chemotherapy with Jack, once again, finding the light at the end of a dark tunnel, achieving remission in 2025.
At this point, the family decided to travel back to New York to continue treatment. However, their recurring nightmare resurfaced, with the fighter once again forced to battle. The cancer this time is in his arm and jaw in January 2026.
“We quickly had to scramble to do two things: One which was to look after Jack as quickly as we could, because he was in pain and not feeling well, and the second was to work out what is the the best thing that we could do for him,” Jamiee said with great determination, unfortunately, well-equipped through previous heart ache and experience.
Over the past three weeks, Jack, Ted and Jamiee have endured multiple four-hour train rides in temperatures below zero to travel between New York City and Hershey for treatment.
No time to explore the concrete jungle, nor well enough to, just the battle for life in focus. But this plight is not unnoticed.
“Jack’s strength is beyond words. The mental strength that he’s had all through this journey… what he’s going through and does it with a smile on his face,” Trent said.
“That boy is an inspiration and strength to us all.”
The Unbreakable Bond
Even though he was 16,000 kilometres away, Trent’s mind was with his family, and it probably comes as no surprise that these thoughts were reciprocated in the US.
“We have a little thing, Jack and I, we try and build Lego together… And he said to Jamie, I don’t want to do any of my Lego at the moment, because I want to wait until daddy comes over to help me.” Trent spoke with a broken voice.
Much like the theme of the past three-year battle, it’s a bittersweet feeling in New York, the rest of the family simultaneously counting down the hours to see their father and husband, while preparing to say goodbye as Jack and Jaimee stay for treatment.
The brotherly bond between the siblings is paramount to Jack’s fight, with Ted’s maturity and understanding being a unique trait rarely found in a seven-year-old.
The family follows a strict “one in, all in” rule, which decrees that unless everyone in the family can participate in something fun and exciting – such as building a snowman or sledging; activities barred from Jack due to his condition – then no one can.
Ted, unable to experience the sights of New York with his younger brother, has mustered up an imaginative alternative: “I’ve just been sitting down and building stuff in Minecraft for Jack!”
Although the two will be continents apart, they have set up Minecraft and Roblox accounts to ensure they’re only ever a server away.
It’ll be a tough series of months, but with the communities’ support and the families’ unbreakable bond, it’s another battle they are prepared to win.
“It’s something that in many ways I don’t even want to think about, because I can’t imagine that we’re going to be apart from each other… we just have to build structure, and it’s going to be hard, but we can do it,” Jaimee said, holding Ted tight.
“We’re still fighting, and he’s still fighting. We can do this again,” Trent echoed from the Northern Beaches.
We can support Jack and his family a few ways, either by buying a piece of puzzle or through Go Fund me.
