CANCER WARRIOR SPOTLIGHT: Jasper

Jasper was a happy, healthy, curly blonde headed boy. He loved Jesus, his family, his dogs, being outside, playing sports and going fast.

Jasper turned 14 on October 5th 2020. He had been having pain in his left bicep and he collapsed while doing push-ups during baseball practice. He was diagnosed with osteosarcoma at the end of the month. He started chemotherapy in November, had tumor resection in February of 2021 and then had more chemo. He rang the bell in September of 2021 and was technically in remission for about 3 months.

In November 2021 Jasper had his first bilateral thoracotomy, the surgery lasted about 14 hours. After that he started a second and very intense chemotherapy that had many lasting side effects. He had a second bilateral thoracotomy in August 2022. He tried multiple immunotherapies. He had a third bilateral thoracotomy in May 2023. Jasper endured 3 and 1/2 years of 17 surgeries, clinic visits, hospital stays, ICU stays, collapsed lungs, neurotoxicity, nausea, vomiting and pain.

But it wasn’t all hard times. Jasper rediscovered his love for Lego, he met lots of other kids with cancer, made new friends, made and sold rubber band bracelets and paracord keychains, went on three hunting trips, went to Six Flags to ride roller coasters, got to fly airplanes, did band-aid and Play-Doh drives for the Pediatric Cancer Clinic, won the tshirt design contest for the Lubbock Pediatric Cancer Walk and started his own YouTube Lego Channel: JJO Studio. He spent a lot of time in the hospital so he joked that he was collecting nurse friends like Pokemon cards. He loved to drop a dad joke and his dark sense of humor when least expected.

Jasper was kind and generous. He was always concerned about his family and friends. If Jasper had your phone number you could count on a random text from him just checking in to see how you were doing. Cancer intensified his salty attitude but his Love for Jesus and confidence in his faith did not waver. Jasper had a fatal pulmonary hemorrhage and went home to Jesus February 21, 2024.

Jasper did not lose his battle; cancer died that day too!

Before cancer, for Jasper’s 14th birthday, he used his savings and his birthday money to buy a mini bike that he had had his eye on for quite some time. He loved to go fast. He was only able to enjoy that little bike for a few weeks before he was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma at the end of October 2020. He eventually sold that bike in hopes of getting something just slightly bigger.

He was gifted a Honda Monkey by some generous men in our community. He was so excited. He bought all of the gear: a fancy helmet, leather jacket, motorcycle boots. He was only able to ride it a couple of times before he became too weak to hold it up. Jasper decided that he would sell the Monkey and begin saving money for his real dream: a Mustang.

With the permission of the men who gave it to him, Jasper listed the motorcycle for sale. He did not receive any interest while we were in Jal. After Jasper’s third double thoracotomy, our family made the decision to move to Lubbock in July 2023. After 3 years of traveling 2.5 hours one way multiple times a week, we needed to be closer to treatment and therapy for Jasper.

He listed the Monkey for sale again after we moved to Lubbock and finally received a message from Bryley Pinkerton who was interested in purchasing it. Bryley brought his dad, Wayne, along with him to see the bike. Jody told them about Jasper and his plans. Then Jasper was able to come out and talk to them in person. When Bryley ultimately decided to purchase the bike, Jasper was excited and was counting his dollars needed for a good used Mustang.

Shortly after, Wayne called Jody to ask about what kind of Mustang Jasper wanted. Wayne said he had a car guy who was able to find all kinds of things for him so he wanted to know the specifics of what Jasper was looking for. Jody told him our budget, model 2012 or later and said that it would have to be an automatic because the limited mobility of Jasper’s left arm made it impossible to hold the wheel and shift gears at the same time. Wayne asked what color and Jody said “V8”. Color didn’t matter to Jasper; he just wanted something that was fast and sounded good (Jasper always said that he would rather die in a fiery crash than in the hospital).

About 10 days later, Wayne texted Jody a picture of a car and wanted to know what Jody thought about it and he asked that Jody call him. The picture was of a black 2018 5.0 Performance Package Mustang with the red and black leather interior. Jody raised his eyebrows and said something like “That looks really nice but it also looks way out of our price range.” Wayne explained that he and Judith had already purchased the car as a gift for Jasper. His only request was that we not tell anyone who they were—they wanted no credit or recognition—they simply said that they had been blessed in their life and felt like this was a small thing they could do to bless Jasper.

They worked out all of the details and met Jody in a parking lot to give him the car to surprise Jasper. Jody asked that they come to our house so that they could give it to him in person but Wayne insisted that the car was Jody’s to give to Jasper. They only asked if we would video Jasper’s reaction to the surprise.

Jasper was grateful for the car but he was so genuinely surprised that someone would give such a gift to him. The surprises kept coming as there was a scripture token on the mirror and cash in the console. The videos are pretty comical because Jasper was, after all, a 16 year old boy in every sense and was also on quite a bit of medication at the time. He hobbled out on the hot driveway in one sock and gave a devilish giggle when he heard the engine rev. He was overcome with emotion when he learned who this car was from.

I think Jasper only got to drive the Mustang once or twice but he LOVED riding in it. He was generally upset if whoever was driving refused to go fast. We would get in it to go somewhere and he would say “go vroom vroom”. One time I even heard him whisper “kachow” and I immediately recognized the impact that Lightning McQueen had on him as a small child. He loved the car, he loved to go fast, but he really loved telling people the story of how he got the car.

Jasper had been mulling over what to ask for his Make-A-Wish for 2 years and could not decide on anything. But because of this gift and others that Jasper received throughout his treatment, he said he really did not have anything else that he wanted. So he wished for mini iPads and accessories for other pediatric cancer patients in the clinic because he knew how much his iPad had helped him during long and boring hospital stays.

Wayne and Judith and their church continued to pray for Jasper and our family. The church sent a prayer card every month. But that was it. The Pinkertons truly did not want recognition or payback. The next time we saw them in person was at Jasper’s funeral. To hear Wayne’s side of the story and know that Jasper had an impact on him too is encouraging to us.

We miss our boy but we can still get in that car, listen to Jasper’s music and think about the good times.