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May 8, 2024 13 mins
We talk to Karen whose son, Jakey, passed away from cancer at the age of 5. She continues to raise money in his honor to this day for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. #JakeysArmy
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(00:01):
Today's Daily Highlight from Elvis Duran inthe Morning Show. This is Elvis Duran
in the Morning Show. It issuch an honor to have our next guest
on for you to meet. Everyoneknows a story. This story incredible and
it's you know, rather than metell any of it, let's let her

(00:21):
do it, Okay, I thinkthat would make more sense. Please say
good morning to Karen douquay. Hi, Karen, good morning, Good morning
everyone. Thank you for having mewell, thanks for being had thanks for
being on with us. And it'sjust so interesting. We're about to talk,
of course about Saint Jude Children's ResehearchHospital, and of course Karen's son,
Jake. As a matter of fact, we're getting texts doing a big

(00:44):
hashtag Jakie's Army. We've been gettingthose all morning, so obviously we have
a big army. So I'm notsurprised. Well it obviously it got out
that you're going to be on today, and I love that. I love
that. So it was two daysago, Danielle here in the room with
me and Nate. We had hoppedon a plane and flew to Memphis to
do yet another tour of Saint JudeChildren's Research Hospital, Karen, and we've

(01:07):
been there several times and every singletime were reminded of the importance of Saint
Jude, and we also learned newthings. And then I heard this morning
that you're going to be on withus to tell Jakie's story and no one
can tell it like you. Sodo you want to just go from the
very beginning and share it with everyonehere because everyone's dying to hear this.
This is gonna be great. Yes. So when you were at the facility,

(01:30):
I'm sure you were on the groundsand there's a big in the middle
of the facility in Memphis, there'sa courtyard that has hope, and that's
what Saint Jude provides to everyone.So our son, Jakie, was diagnosed
at four years old with a cancerand it's a terminal a cancer and it's
called the fuse in tristic ponting gliomaand the abbreviation of that is DIPG and

(01:53):
it's terminal. So our son wentfrom fishing on our backyard to being told
that he had a terminal cancer braintumor that they gave us nine to twelve
months of living. We went frombeing in Miami on a Thursday and relocating
to Memphis, Tennessee on a Sunday. We were blessed to be able to
go to Saint Jude. And Ialways say that no one wants to be

(02:15):
part of this world of cancer,pediatric cancer, but if you are part
of it, Saint Jude is theplace to be. It is like heaven
on earth. And when you're inSaint Jude, it doesn't matter your economic
standing, your ethnic or your religiousbeliefs. It is your child is fighting
for their life and they're giving youa fighting chance, all while doing research

(02:36):
for other kids. I am thebiggest advocate and cheerleader and champion for them
because I know that a lot ofpeople speculate does it really go back to
the child? Does it really goback to the family? And one hundred
percent donations go back to the family, and I am living proof of that.
We have a very big family andan army and a following, and
which started this morning. Letting youguys know the love and what we did

(03:00):
was while we were there, andwe were there for eight months, we
invited them all to come up becausewe wanted not only for them to experience
Saint Jude, for themselves, butfor them to also be advocates and champions
of Saint Jude. We've been ableto let everyone know, and I will
to my time breath know what amazingthings they did for us. So although

(03:20):
our child was diagnosed with terminal cancer, our son had a fighting chance.
But not only that, they tookout an extra viral blood to do more
testing to give another child better odds. You know the amount of research and
the amount of fundings that it takesfor these research to be able to find
the cause. And the biggest thingis is that unfortunately childhood cancer, it's

(03:45):
always thought of, oh, itdoesn't happen to my child, or oh,
you know that happens to other people, but it's happening. Forty seven
children daily get diagnosed with childhood cancerand those numbers are growing. It's a
scary number. But Saint Jude gaveus that hope. And there's a reason
why that that garden is it hashope in the middle of it. So
our experience in Saint Jude was amazing. We lived in Rondannel House and we

(04:10):
were there and our son we wereblessed for her to be during COVID.
So yes, we had our familycome out. But then once COVID got
stronger, we didn't have to shareour son, and our son not once
thought that he was dying. Infact, if you, if you buy
any chance to lipped in front ofhim and said Jake's sick, he would
tell you I'm not sick. Godmade me better. So we are our

(04:33):
family of faith. And it's crazybecause today is his birthday and eat today's
birthday. Today is nine years oldin heaven. And my daughter is a
huge advocate of your show. Shelistens to it in the morning commute with
her daddy. Leilah's eleven, sowe have an eleven year olds. Oh

(04:53):
my gosh, I just thought backto what we've been talking about today.
Well, yeah, listen, shelistens to all the shouls and all the
drama, the roads. Uh.She loves it though. She loves it,
and we are blessed. Two yearsafter Jak passed, we found out
we were pregnant. We have arainbow baby. Host name is Sessi.
So we are a family of fiveand we are huge advocates for Saint Jude

(05:17):
because the way that they do thingsand the way that they care for children.
But most of all. I alwayssay that the world, if we
had a little bit of Saint Judeand everyone, we would realize that they
have such empathy and compassion for thosechildren and those parents that are going to
somewhere, you know, basically asa last hope. And I mean in
Ronald McDonald house, we met somany different people and in the clinics and

(05:42):
it's Saint Jude, and you wouldliterally see whether it be Mormon or you
know, people from you know,from overseas, or you know, people
didn't speak the language. There's bluephones in each of the hospital of the
rooms and basically those phones are asleaders that will be able to accommodate any

(06:02):
any language that the family it feelscomfortable with. Not only that they do
research for the child, but theydid they tested Jakie on a different genes
and they found out that he hadsomething very rare and it was a mutation
basically called our wire one malignant hypothermia, and it basically is if you're exposed

(06:25):
to gas and aesthetics, it's verydangerous. And they extended that testing to
my husband, my daughter, andmyself and me and my daughter have it.
That's some five percent of the worldhas it. So because of their
research, they were able to dothat to us. So now me and
my daughter now know this knowledge thatwe would have never tested for. Well
that's what does you know they do? You know, Carring, Your point

(06:46):
is is so incredible because Saint Judeshares info not only with other scientists around
the world, around the world.They were saying when we were there,
like they would say, like say, we're doing some research on loomphon,
but then all of a sudden,we see something about another cancer, So
we might not be doing the researchon that cancer, but we'll take what

(07:06):
we learned and send it over topeople who are doing the research on what
we found. And they said,it's just incredible how much sharing goes on
and how many things we learn fromit. Yeah, and that's the thing
is, I'm actually on the boardright now of how to share news and
reports and diagnostics with the parents forSaint Jude. And it's a research that

(07:29):
they're doing. They're always doing researchand there's always growing but a lot of
their researchers are past patients, rightye know that they got treated there or
a lot of people that work therewere patients, so they got treated there.
And they came back to continue thecause because listen, it takes we
believe it, mustard seed faith,But it takes so many people to move
that needle. And as long aswe're moving the needle for a cause and

(07:53):
avoiding one child to go through something, because we shared the knowledge and we
shared the research, then why thehell not we? You know, that's
what's so interesting about this. Alot of people listening right now, and
maybe parents listening who have children whoare not going through cancer, maybe saying,
well, I don't know if Iwould ever need to pick up a
phone and call Saint Jude or doanything with them ever again, because I

(08:16):
lost I lost my child, ButJakie who passed away, you're still on
it. You're you're fighting very hardfor Saint Jude. So can you explain
to everyone, Karen, to everyone, Karen, why why? It's a
great question. I've actually been askedthat, Okay, because I didn't lose
my child. My child was Mychild had a bigger purpose of which maybe

(08:37):
it's harder for me to understand,but I know he had a bigger purpose,
and he started a movement that Icannot ignore. Look at today his
birthday, I could be selfish andnot want to talk to anyone, but
this call of action, I cannotturn away because Saint Jude did give me
a fighting chance and gave my familythat hope that when no one when basically

(08:58):
I was told it was terminal,and they never once treated him as a
terminal patient. They treated him asa patient that had to fight a chance.
And for those reasons, I willalways fight for Saint Jude and I
will always try and my hope isthat one day we do find a research
for a cure for this terminal cancerdiffuse interesting punts in glioma. Because if
that means that one parent doesn't haveto do what we had to do with

(09:20):
our child, then you know what, my job here is done. And
I contributed towards what my son startedin US. And you know what,
there's a lot of people that dowork at Saint Jude now that are former
patients, and that's because Saint Judedoes have just such a high success rate.
I'm on the board for the SaintJude Country Cares Radio Fond we do
every year where we turn over ouriHeart radio country stations for two days to

(09:41):
Saint Jude and we fundraise and I'vebeen there. And when you meet the
people who Saint Jude has saved,and when you see the parents who,
yes, like you, Karen,have unfortunately their child lost the battle,
but yet they live on, theirmemory lives on forever because they're doing good
for other kids. And it's verybrave and strong of you to say that,
you know what, I lost thebattle. I'm going to get out,

(10:01):
yet you continue to fight on inJaki's memory and that is absolutely unbelievable.
Amen, absolutely as well. Karen. Uh, oh my gosh.
I love that. I love Ilove the sound of children sounding curious,

(10:22):
totally plugged in with a moment likewhy are you on the phone, mommy?
What about Aget? What are youdoing? You're talking to Uh?
It just like we said earlier,it just so happened today, the ninth
birthday of Jakie, who is inheaven, and having you on is just
it's a blessing. And to hearyour passion for Saint Jude, and us

(10:46):
having visited Saint Jude, we understandwhy you have the passion even more it's
it's it's an honor again to haveyou here, Karen, Thank you so
much, for your time. Thankyou very much. If I can just
add, whenever you're doing it,they give you sometimes the shirt that says
this shirt saves lives. If youever have a doubt, if you ever
have that opportunity to give back,please get back to Saint Jude, because
it does go back to the patients, to the child, to the parents,

(11:09):
and to research most more importantly,So please get back because I'm I'm
living proof that Saint Jude does givefamilies hope and are doing you know that
that research light is never off becausethey're always trying to find a cure for
that next child. So thank youso much for having me this morning,
and happy for day to Jakie.There you go, Karen. Okay,
thank you so much. Thank you. I have a beautiful, beautiful day

(11:31):
to day. Take care. Okay, I'll have one tow there you go.
You know, every single patient,every single family has a story,
and you just heard it an incrediblypowerful one. So brave. Keep in
mind, absolutely keep in mind,families never pay a penny all the travels
taken care of for them. They'reput up. For instance, in the

(11:54):
Ronald McDonald House is the one wherethey stayed in Memphis, And by the
way, that is the only RonaldMcDonald in America that is assigned to a
hospital. One hospital, they havedifferent rooms for like different sized families too,
like oh yeah, everything. Ifyou need more than a couple of
bedrooms, they have it, alonger stay. They have it all,
and they share the information with othercountries who are fighting the battle and not

(12:16):
winning it like they are winning ityear. Their new goal now is like
we're doing so well here now,thank goodness. And obviously they're still doing
so much research, but other countriesnot as good as we are here.
So that's their new goal is tohelp those other countries and look into the
future. Not only is it aboutcuring all these different types of cancers,

(12:37):
it's also coming up with ways thatthese currently patients are going to have a
great life ahead years down the road. I mean, it's so advanced,
so there's not enough, not enoughtime in the world to learn about everything
they do at Saint Jude's. Soif you want to help us, we've
already done it. We're going todo it again today. Become a partner
in hope. It's simple if youtext Elvis E Lvis for those who need

(13:00):
a spelling Text Elvis to sixty twosixty two sixty two. You'll get their
brand new this Shirt Saves Lives tshirt and it's easy to do. They'll
send you a text back or giveyou a they'll give you a link actually,
and it'll tell you how you cangive. And it's not you don't
have to give like a big oldload of money right now. You can
give a dollar, you can giveit whatever, whatever you want to give.

(13:22):
Text the word Elvis to sixty twosixty two sixty two and get the
ball rolling. Any thoughts from anyone, I just to get that that woman
is just amazing, man. Thefact that she wants to save so many
more lives, you know, andunfortunately lost hers. She is she is
brave and strong, and my goodness, there you go. Text the word
Elvis to sixty two sixty two sixtytwo.
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