Mother and son diagnosed with cancer hours apart from each other
By Samantha Kadera
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SOUTHERN OREGON (KDRV) — A Southern Oregon family is facing two cancer diagnoses at the same time, after what they describe as an ordinary life suddenly shifted in a matter of weeks.
Jake McRae says everything changed when the couple’s 4-year-old son, Jamon, began complaining of headaches last month. What started as mild pain quickly escalated. After repeated emergency room visits and an MRI, doctors discovered a brain mass near his brainstem.
On October 8, the family learned the tumor was compressing critical structures. Less than a month later, on November 3, Jamon underwent a 15-hour brain surgery, far longer and more complex than the six hours doctors initially expected.
Surgeons could not remove the entire tumor. When pathology results came back on November 5, the diagnosis shifted from a suspected benign growth to what McRae describes as “an aggressive, malignant type of brain tumor.”
Jamon is preparing for a second major brain surgery next week, followed by six weeks of daily radiation in Palo Alto and several months of chemotherapy. His current prognosis is about 50%, McRae said, but doctors believe that removing the remaining tumor could raise that to around 70%.
At home, Jamon is recovering with significant temporary deficits from the first surgery. He is unable to swallow normally, relies on a feeding tube, and needs help walking.
McRae says their once-active son is adjusting to being unable to run, eat, or play the way he used to, all while still wanting his favorite foods, especially Reese’s Puffs cereal.
During the same period, Jamon’s mother, Britney, experienced her own medical crisis.
What the family believed was an eight-week pregnancy turned out to be a rare complete molar pregnancy. Further testing showed it had developed into gestational trophoblastic neoplasia, a form of cancer requiring several months of chemotherapy. She will begin treatment the same day Jamon is expected to undergo his next surgery.
McRae says the family’s oncologist appointments for both diagnoses happened just one hour apart.
With two young children also at home, ages 7 and 1, the family has been navigating nonstop medical demands, travel between Southern Oregon and Stanford Medicine in Palo Alto, and the looming reality that both parents will need to be away from home for extended periods during treatment.
A GoFundMe launched by a family member aims to help cover medical expenses, lost income, travel, and housing near the children’s hospital during months of treatment.
McRae says the support has been “tremendously helpful” as the family prepares for months away from home and extended time out of work.
Despite the overwhelming challenges, he says he is hopeful both for Britney’s recovery and for surgeons to successfully remove the rest of Jamon’s tumor.
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