There was a time that Kristyn and Brian Rousseau thought their toddler Jack could survive his rare cancer.

“Every day was a new adventure. He never let anything get him down,” Kristyn said.

Jack endured a grueling 8 1⁄2 hour surgery to remove the large tumor in his liver. He woke up from the anesthesia smiling.

“He came home with a huge scar but he did not care.” On the last day in the hospital, “He was trying to jump out of the crib.”

Doctors at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) felt optimistic. “We got it all,” the surgeon said.

Kristyn and Brian met at college. She played softball. He played baseball. They were athletes.

“We’re going to win. Jack’s going to win,” they thought.

Their little boy was only two years old. Kristyn said, “He was always on the go. He had more energy than any child I could ever imagine. He would be in the middle of chemo waiting for a blood transfusion and he would be running up and down the halls at CHOP.”

Jack’s chemo meant he needed blood transfusions at least six times. His mom said sometimes he needed blood and sometimes platelets.

Cancer patients need platelets because they help the blood clot. The Red Cross says every two seconds someone needs blood or platelets and donors can help hospitals keep up with demand.

“All these times that Jack’s counts were low, we had to wait for blood for him. It came by courier.”

After intense chemotherapy treatments, Jack and his big sister Reagan held dance-offs to Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off.” Reagan is four and a half now.

“She has the most caring empathetic personality,” Kristyn said.

Just weeks after Jack’s long surgery, his cancer stopped responding to chemotherapy.

Doctors said, “Unfortunately, it is now terminal.”

A clinical drug trial was not successful and Jack grew weaker. His family tried to give him years of joy in days.

Jack celebrated Christmas in summer with a parade. He went to the New Jersey Shore and slept in a playpen by the ocean.

On July 21st, 2022, Kristyn said Jack was “extra tired.” His favorite place was his crib so she let him sleep there. At 3 a.m., she walked into his room to find he wasn’t breathing.

“I jumped in the crib and tried to save my baby,” she said. Despite every effort humanly possible, Jack died that night.“

Nobody should ever bury their child,” Kristyn said.

In the months after Jack’s death Kristyn and Brian thought, “Other children need to be saved.” Knowing how crucial the blood transfusions were to Jack, his parents had an idea. A blood drive in Jack’s memory. The Red Cross is making it happen.

Kristyn said, “I feel like I have to keep doing things. I want him to be talked about every day for the rest of my life. This was a way to keep his name alive.”

Friends and family will attend the upcoming Team Jack Red Cross blood drive along with staff from Kristyn’s dental practice, but more people are needed to donate.

“People who knew him all want to help as much as they can. This was a way that everybody can participate,” Kristyn said.

If you would like to give blood in Jack’s memory, come to the Phoenixville Recreation Center between 2 and 7 p.m. on Monday, February 13th. The address is 501 Franklin Ave. in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. You can make an appointment to donate at RedCrossBlood.org.

“It makes me feel like I’m making Jack proud. He changed me and my husband and my daughter and every person that he met for the better.”

Kristyn and Brian will make sure Reagan and the world never forget her baby brother. “She just misses him. Some days she cries but she talks about the happy memories. I’m so proud of her. I’m so proud of both my kids.”

- Written by Jenny Farley, Submitted photo