You got this Jack (#yougotthisjack)

SO Jackson was just like any other 15 year old kid.... silly, smart, witty and vibrant. Never before interested in sports but decided this year to join the football team in highschool and was loving it. A random school day in March and Jack foolishly decided to slide down the hall on his knees to impress his friends at the end of the hall. A warm day, wearing shorts against cold tile cause him to land a little harder than he anticipated hurting his left knee. A trip to the doctor who checked him out and said he had likely tore something in his knee. The doctor prescribed some physiotherapy and a couple weeks later Jack was still walking with a bit of a limp. I went back to the physiotherapist to ask why a vibrant, young boy was taking so long to heal. The PT asked if Jackson got his knee x-rayed when he first saw the doctor. She suggested he go get an x-ray just to see if perhaps he had a hairline fracture or something. So off we  went on his 16th birthday to sit and wait at the hospital to get an x-ray. That done we went home thinking like we all do that 3 weeks from now the doctor would get back to them if something was wrong. Little did we know there would be frantic messages on the answering machine by the time we got home. "Get him back here as soon as possible, we have to do an emergency chest x-ray." I immediately questioned why they would need to do a chest x-ray for a leg injury. "That's something we would rather discuss with you in person, right away at the hospital." Like any parent would, I said, "I am not waking up my boy at 11:00 at night to go back to the hospital for what is clearly a mistake, Jackson has a knee injury." That is when the words were spoken that a parent NEVER wants to hear. "We saw something we never wanted to see and we think it might be bone cancer." Jackson presented with a 13cm tumor on his left distal femur. They immediately x-rayed for metastases to the lungs as that is where this type of cancer usually goes first. Thankfully the lungs were clear. Since then it has been 4 months of nothing but terrible news every day almost. The cancer spread to a small spot below the knee and has since spread to his other leg, both shoulders and most recently to his hip and neck. The doctors are particularly concerned with the spot in his neck as I am sure is pretty obvious why. Currently Jackson has Metastatic Osteosacroma and his left knee is the size of a football and is excruciating to walk on requiring walkers, wheelchairs,  stair lifts and ramps. No 16 year old should have to take the drugs Jackson is taking just to be able to rest without screaming out in horrific pain. The worst part of this whole thing is that Jackson is SO proud of a kid that he didn't even know we were doing this page. He has THOUSANDS of followers on his YouTube channel who eagarly await his weekly videos of him customizing his Lego Mini-figures. We suggested he tell them and he was adamant about NOT being the sick kid with cancer. He doesn't want anything to change at home. He doesn't want nursing at home because this only reminds him that he is a very sick kid. Jackson elected to undergo 3 rounds of chemotherapy that ended up being entirely ineffective. Jack then was forced to choose an above the knee amputation of his left leg to try and slow the progression of this horrible cancer and perhaps, over time, give him back a little bit of mobility and hopefully reduce the pain. This is a decision NO CHILD should ever even have to think of let alone be forced to make but he is making these hard choices with as much bravery as he can muster. These are NOT cures, these are NOT solutions. These are painful and impossible decisions that have to be made and can buy him time. Time for things to work. Osteosarcoma is a particularly brutal, painful and ruthless cancer. The hospital is not offering us much hope. There are second opinions being sought out. We are not taking this laying down! Jackson just wants to be able to try and be a kid again. He is willing to learn to live without his leg. He just wants the pain to stop and to have a chance at life. Mothers have insurance for when THEY get sick.. Mothers have insurance to protect their family if they cannot work. There is NO insurance that protects a mother that CANNOT work because they have a gravely ill child at home. Reducing my work hours to care for Jack caused me to lose my benefits. I rely on my mother to come a couple days a week to watch Jackson so I can work as much as possible, but being a nurse it is difficult to be compassionate for a stranger when your little boy is suffering at home. I need to work as much as possible because there are MANY extra costs associated with having a sick child at home. Not all medications are covered and can be very expensive. Then there are modifications that are required to the home so that Jackson doesn't feel like a prisoner in his room, in his mind and in this disease.