Young students at the Fairwind Learning Center, and around town, dressed in their superhero finest on May 8 to support 3-year-old JJ Weiss of Marblehead, who is battling a brain tumor.
Weiss and his twin brother, Luke, are students at Fairwind. In December, JJ was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer. He is receiving treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
The folks at Fairwind hosted a superhero parade for JJ and encouraged kids at other local schools to dress up like their favorite superheroes the same day.
“He had a giant smile on his face,” said mom Samantha Weiss about JJ at the parade. “He loved it. We got to come home from the hospital for the day. He was very excited to be in his Superman costume, see all his friends and play with them. He’s known for his love of superheroes. He has worn a Spiderman shirt every day in the hospital.”
Weiss describes JJ as “very spirited, high-energy” and says he loves biking and riding his scooter. He is about to start another round of chemotherapy.
The Weiss family, which includes JJ and Luke’s baby sister, Ellie, hope to raise awareness about medulloblastoma and the need for more research.
“Our eyes have been opened,” Weiss said. “There’s a need for enhancements and advancements. A lot of treatments now have lifelong side effects.”
She added, “It will take a long time, and funding. Whatever we can do to help the next family that goes through this is what we want to focus on.”
Fairwind Director Kathy Sweetland said the school was happy to host the parade.
“Since his diagnosis, our school community has rallied around JJ, his twin brother, Luke, and their family,” she said. “Although JJ has not been able to attend his preschool classroom on a regular basis, his teachers have been including him in the weekly curriculum by sending home games, books and materials that he can engage in with his family. JJ joins his class for recess as often as possible, and his twin brother, Luke, continues to attend school daily. Parents in their preschool class have united to support JJ and Luke with video messages, cards and playdates.”
The Weiss family will be joining Jimmy Fund Walk this fall to raise money and awareness for pediatric cancer.
A statement on their fundraising page reads, “Donations to Team JJ go directly to research being performed by JJ’s own doctor at Dana Farber. Team JJ is forever grateful to the incredible team at Dana-Farber and Boston Children’s Hospital for giving him the best treatment in the world. And we’ll forever be in awe of JJ as he fights through surgery after surgery, re-learns how to use his arms and legs, and finds ways to smile through procedures the rest of us can barely watch.”
The statement continues, “But as we’ve seen on the all-too-rare days since January when he’s been able to leave the hospital, JJ — and Luke, Ellie, and the rest of us — are really only happy when he’s home, which can only happen if we find a cure. For JJ, way too many kids like him, and way too many families like ours, that’s a dream that can’t come soon enough, and that every dollar raised hopefully brings one day closer.” For more information about the fundraiser, click HERE.
