By Rachel Whelan
Click here for updates on this story
WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WLWT) — Inside a West Chester bedroom lined with heavy metal posters and guitars is where 19-year-old Jayden Zurlinden now spends most of his days, after cancer spread to his lungs, spine, liver and thigh.
But Jayden refuses to stop fighting.
“I’m always telling people, you know, it’s not going to be me giving up at the end,” Jayden said. “It’s going to be because there’s nothing else left for me.”
Jayden was first diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer called perineal rhabdomyosarcoma when he was a baby. His parents said doctors warned them the odds were stacked against him. Yet he beat them.
As he grew older, Jayden became a two-time Ohio state wrestling champion. He taught himself how to play guitar. He surrounded himself with friends and family. For years, his family thought cancer was behind them.
Then, in 2023, everything changed.
After months of unexplained pain, rapid weight loss and night sweats, doctors diagnosed Jayden with osteosarcoma — an aggressive form of bone cancer that his family says was likely caused by the radiation treatments that originally saved his life as a child.
“Terrifying,” said Jayden’s father, Jay Zurlinden. “It’s terrifying what you think and what goes through your head.”
Jayden endured chemotherapy, radiation and major surgery. Doctors removed half of his pelvis and replaced it with a custom 3D-printed implant.
For a while, things improved. His parents said he was able to go back to work, spend time with friends and regain some normalcy.
But eventually, the cancer spread again.
Now, with many traditional treatment options exhausted, the family says they began searching for anything that could give Jayden another chance.
That search led them to an experimental drug called DT2216 through a clinic in California.
Jayden’s mother, Cassie Zurlinden, spent days researching the treatment and gathering every medical document she could find — scans, pathology reports, lab work and doctor notes.
Then, on Mother’s Day, she boarded a plane.
“She’s like, ‘I’m catching a plane. I’m going straight out there,’” Jay Zurlinden recalled. “‘I’m going to wait at the door until it opens and I’m going to hand them this binder and make them say Jayden’s name and look over his case.’”
Cassie said she knew the clinic was receiving countless requests from desperate families across the country. She wanted to make sure doctors saw Jayden as more than just another file.
“I just made a binder and put his picture all over it,” she said. “Because if you’re going to tell me no, you’re going to look at my kid’s picture and say no.”
She says the clinic told her reviews normally take weeks.
The family got a call back within hours.
Jayden now qualifies for the experimental treatment, though major hurdles still remain, including cost, logistics and the possibility of relocating to California if treatment moves forward.
Still, the family says the call brought something they desperately needed: hope.
“Just the fact that there was anything out there that gives me a chance to keep going is a blessing for real,” Jayden said.
Even now, while facing his own battle, Jayden continues thinking about other children with cancer.
He started an effort called “Cards for Cancer,” collecting and donating trading cards to young cancer patients in hopes of giving them moments of happiness during treatment.
“Helping other people helps me more than helping myself,” he said.
His parents describe him as selfless, compassionate and wise beyond his years — someone who comforts others even while enduring unimaginable pain himself.
Jayden says one of his biggest goals now is raising awareness for pediatric cancer research, particularly for sarcomas, which he says often receive far less attention and funding.
“Osteosarcoma, sadly, sarcoma in general isn’t really looked into much as a disease,” he said. “The fact that there was anything out there that gives me a chance to keep going is a blessing.”
And despite everything, Jayden still has a message for others facing difficult moments:
“You are cared for. You are loved,” he said. “Somebody out there loves you.”
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family.
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
