In Memory of our son Jake

Ever since our son Jake survived a rare malignant brain tumor, as an infant, more than 30 years ago, he has been a picture of health. We even joked that Jake didn’t get the common cold, just the uncommon brain tumor. It was only a few years ago, in the Making Headway newsletter, that we wrote about how thankful we were to be able to celebrate Jake’s milestone 30th birthday. But then out of nowhere, one month after his first minor symptoms started, Jake died on August 23rd from a rare, aggressive cancer. It was not a reoccurrence of brain cancer, and we were told it was likely not caused by the treatments that he received many decades ago.
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We were heartbroken 30+ years ago when we first discovered that our perfect, newborn baby Jake was far from perfect. Alongside Jake, we fought for his survival, and we worked hard for Jake to be able to walk. We accepted his inability to speak and his learning disabilities, although we tried to minimize their effects. Jake’s special needs changed the course of our lives, but we were able to make it work beautifully.

Everyone who met Jake saw that he was ALWALYS happy, 24/7/365. Jake was also empathetic. When his younger sister Augusta was a baby and cried, Jake would give us his boo-boo face in sympathy.

But what do we do now that Jake is gone? We are devastated and heartbroken—but we will not lose Jake’s happiness and concern for others.

Being back in the world of parents of a sick child with a rare cancer, took us back in time. There is good news and bad news. We rediscovered, firsthand, that everyone at NYU Langone Medical Center is caring, hardworking, and passionate about achieving a positive outcome. The bad news is that even with the passage of three decades, and even though the type of cancer this time was different—the recommended chemotherapy was the same! Imagine what the world would be like if we were using the same computers as in 1990! We know that there have been improvements in treatments, but not enough. We know that there is no lack of brain power and passion to win the war against cancer. We know that the war must continue and our family will continue to be a part of Making Headway. (We hope that all other parents who have been impacted by pediatric brain tumors will join us.)

From the date of Jake’s death on, all the money that is donated to Making Headway through the efforts of our family will be part of the Jake Greenbaum Memorial Fund. To all our friends and relatives who have contributed to Making Headway since 1990 in honor of Jake (a sum of about $2 million), please, continue to donate, but now, very sadly, in memory of Jake.