Building kindness at Christmas
An already challenging year for Natalie and Wesley Harris, of Franklin Township, became unfathomably worse when their 6-year-old son, Jax, was diagnosed with cancer last month.
The Greene County couple will likely spend Christmas in his room at UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, but they still have reasons to celebrate the season of hope, peace and joy, thanks, in part, to the generosity of strangers in Ohio.
In late October, Jax developed unexplained symptoms that a few days of steroids couldn’t mitigate, Natalie said. When he started having trouble breathing, they took him to the emergency room at Children’s Hospital.
“We thought he had a horrible respiratory infection,” Natalie said in a recent interview. “Worst-case scenario, we thought maybe he had COVID.”
Doctors X-rayed Jax’s lungs.
“Without doing more tests or even a biopsy, they pulled me and my husband into a room and told us right then that they had found a mass,” she said.
The mass was in his mediastinum, part of the thoracic cavity between the lungs where the heart and portions of the esophagus and trachea are located.
“Because of the size of it and the location, they said it was definitely a type of lymphoma,” Natalie said. “We were in shock. We just never expected that.”
That day, Nov. 1, Jax was diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma, a fast-growing cancer. They learned it had spread to his spinal fluid and a portion of his kidney.
“In five days, it went from the size of a 50-cent piece to the size of my fist,” Natalie said. “It made it very difficult to do anything with him because they were worried his airways might collapse.”
Ten days after he was diagnosed, Jax began chemotherapy treatment. He is currently on the fourth of six rounds.
“We’re just hoping and praying that at the end of the six rounds, it would be gone, and he’d be in remission,” Natalie said. “He’s always smiling, and he still wants to do things. There are days where he’ll just lay here, and he doesn’t even want to play with his iPad.”
One of the hardest things for Jax is not being home at the holidays. In the last two months, they’ve been there for a total of six days. Natalie and Wesley are able to stay with Jax in his room, but due to COVID-19 visitation restrictions, Natalie’s other children, Dana Roe, 22, and Tyler Headlee, 17, have not been able to visit.
“That’s what’s been the hardest – the holidays being here and being away from the rest of our family,” Natalie said. “And with COVID, it makes it even harder. We can’t be around people. If he were to get COVID, he probably wouldn’t make it.”
On top of that, the Harrises were in the middle of home renovations when Jax was diagnosed.
“Our roof was really bad, and we needed a new one,” Natalie said. “There had been a small leak in our living room.”
A neighbor had recommended a central Ohio company, Charm Builders, owned by Mahlon Raber and Reuben Miller of Holmes County. On Nov. 1, the same day Jax went to the hospital, Allen Mast, with Charm Builders, went to their house to measure and get an estimate.
“The day I called Natalie with the price, I called her about 10 minutes after they found out that Jax had cancer,” Mast said in a recent interview. “I could tell something was different in her voice.”
Natalie said from that point on, anytime she communicated with Mast, he asked how Jax was doing, and told her that “we’re praying for him.” Natalie said they were supposed to pay half the total cost up front, but Mast told them not to worry about that. He told them they could settle everything after the roof and gutters were completed.
They finished the roof last week, and on Friday, Mast emailed Natalie the invoice for the metal roof. It revealed the $7,728.47 cost, but under the balance due, it said “$0 owed.” Natalie thought it was a mistake, so she asked Mast about it via text.
“No, the invoice is correct; you owe Charm Builders $0,” Mast responded in a text. “You just take care of your son. … Merry Christmas and happy New Year!”
“We don’t know these people from anywhere,” Natalie said. “He had to have known early on that he was going to do that. With everything horrible going on right now, we just still don’t even know what to say.”
When Mast first learned that Jax was battling cancer, his heart ached for the family. He told the company owners about it, and they decided to donate the roof project to the Harris family.
“I got a 6-year-old daughter at home,” Mast said. “We’re just blessed that we could help.”
It was a huge relief for them, Natalie said, and a kindness that won’t ever be forgotten. Especially, she said, during a Christmas season that feels anything but cheerful.
“Since we’ll probably be here for Christmas, it’s just not the same,” Natalie said of being at Children’s. “I decorated the room a little bit.”
She said Jax was able to fill out a wish list and drop it in a “To Santa” mailbox in the hospital. This year, he’s hoping for Nerf guns, Legos and a PlayStation 5.
Jax’s uncle, Alex Harris, started a GoFundMe page called “Help with Bills While Jax Battles Cancer.” It’s raised more than $23,000. Natalie also started a Facebook page called “Jax Harris – Battle with Cancer,” where she posts pictures and updates on Jax’s progress.