Honoring Julian the Warrior

My superhero, Julian D. Jackson, was born on June 28, 2010 with a tumor on his tailbone (Sacralcoccygeal Teratoma). At the age of 1, he was diagnosed with Germ Cell cancer. The tumors originated in his pelvis, moving to his spine. He went through 6 rounds of chemotherapy and 1 tumor resection surgery, which were successful and Julian was thriving in remission for 8 years.

With COVID throwing the world into a frenzy, Julian's cancer returned during the height of the pandemic more aggressive than what we had previously fought. He was 10 years old. The phone call from his oncologist was heartbreaking... The tumors started back in his pelvis again, moving to his lungs. This go around, the battle was longer and more intense. He fought for a little under 4 years...after undergoing multiple tumor resection surgeries from his pelvis and rounds of chemotherapy and radiation therapy...eventually the chemo and radiation stopped working.

After coming to this realization, Julian went to St. Jude Research Hospital in Memphis to begin testing for a CAR-T cell immunotherapy study. We were told after multiple days of testing that there were too many risks to the study that outweighed the benefits and would cause more harm than help to Julian. Devastated, we returned home to Maryland to regroup and potentially come up with another game plan.

At this point, Julian refused any more chemotherapy and we kept up with radiation therapy to help keep the growth of his tumors on his lungs at bay.

December 21, 2023, Julian was declared terminal by his oncologist. She told us that we had no other treatment options and the growth of his tumors were becoming difficult to contain. We weren't sure if he would make it through the holidays, and the doctors didn't think he would make it past Christmas, but Julian kept fighting for 90 more days. Hospice plans were beginning to be made.

March 13, 2024, Julian was admitted to Children's National Hospital in Washington, DC because his tumors spread from his lungs to his brain. He complained of consistently intense headaches with no relief, so we asked his doctor for a brain scan. 3 tumors were found on the left side of his brain that were slowly shifting his brain to the right. We immediately began steroid therapy to reduce the swelling in his brain and pain medications for comfort care. On March 24, 2024 at 2:12 AM, Julian Deion Jackson took his last breath and gained his well deserved wings.

Julian's legacy will not end here! He took every single treatment and went through every single day with a smile on his face and never complained once. Even on his worst days, you couldn't tell that Julian was battling this nasty disease.

My goal, as Julian's mother, is to raise funds to continue to honor his legacy. At the tender age of 13, Julian has left a MAJOR impact on so many lives and in the Childhood Cancer community, that I cannot let his battle end with him being laid to rest.

Funds will be used to purchase his memorial marker and to help finance efforts to give back to the Childhood Cancer community in Julian's honor. All donations are greatly appreciated.