Jayden K. entered the world facing a mountain of challenges. His father didn’t even know of his birth. That truth came years later, in a courtroom—a shocking revelation paired with an equally daunting reality: Jayden was medically complex in ways most people will never encounter.

By the time he was six years old, Jayden had lived in foster care, been hospitalized for malnutrition, and endured chronic seizures. His diagnoses were staggering: quadriplegic cerebral palsy, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, the ultra-rare Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome, epilepsy, and global developmental delays. 

He was nonverbal, G-tube fed, and completely dependent on others for daily care. For Jayden, nothing came easy.

What he needed wasn’t just a team of specialists or advanced medical equipment. He needed a permanent home. He needed family.

That’s when his aunt, Chanrath, stepped forward. For more than 12 years, she had worked in Human Resources at the University of Florida, carefully building a career and a stable life of her own. 

But in that moment, she made a choice that would change everything. She chose Jayden. And in turn, Jayden chose her.

In December 2019, she welcomed him into her home. Six months later, in June 2020, the adoption was finalized. From that day forward, Jayden was no longer a child in foster care—he was her son.

The transition was anything but easy. “When I first got him, it was definitely challenging,” she remembers. She had no medical training, no blueprint for how to manage seizure protocols, feeding tubes, or wheelchairs that seemed impossibly heavy. Her small home quickly filled with medical supplies, leaving little room for anything else. 

Days revolved around appointments, routines, and the constant learning curve of caring for a child with complex needs.


 

But she wasn’t alone. Jayden’s foster parents, who had cared for him before, taught her what they could and remained part of his extended “village.” Piece by piece, Chanrath built her confidence as a caregiver. 

Piece by piece, Jayden began to change.

“In the beginning, he was so agitated. He cried a lot, and I think it was because he just didn’t know what was happening,” she said. Slowly, as he grew comfortable, the tears faded. He began to smile. He giggled when tickled. Music on his iPad made him light up. 

He made sounds that became his language, one that only those closest to him could fully understand. “Patience,” Chanrath said, “is the greatest lesson he’s taught me.”

Jayden’s diagnoses are among the rarest in the world. Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome, which affects his thyroid, shortens life expectancy and makes the future uncertain. “There are definitely difficult days because we don’t really know what his condition will be like as the years go by,” Chanrath admitted. 

“I just want him to be happy and as normal as possible for his age.”

For now, happiness looks like watching his iPad, listening to music, feeling the sun on his face outside, and going for car rides. Those moments of joy matter. They are proof that even though Jayden is “stuck in his little body,” as his mom says, his spirit remains as vibrant as any child’s.

Today, Jayden is 12 years old. He is still nonverbal and fully dependent on others for his care, but he is also joyful, affectionate, and quick to laugh. But with each passing year, the physical demands of caring for him grew heavier—literally.

Jayden now weighs more than 70 pounds, and his wheelchair weighs over 60. Every outing requires a painstaking routine: lifting him from his bed, carrying him down the stairs, transferring him into a car seat, and hoisting the chair into the trunk of her SUV. “When we had a Honda CR-V, his chair didn’t even fit,” Chanrath explained. 

They eventually moved to a Honda Pilot, but it was still a struggle. “Lifting a 74-pound child up into a car seat—it gets a little difficult. And you can’t do anything in a hurry. Everything has to be planned.”

Even with a ramp at home, transportation was becoming dangerous for both of them. Yet Chanrath did it anyway, because doctor’s appointments, therapy visits, and even short drives just for fun mattered to Jayden’s quality of life.

At Chive Charities, making people’s lives even 10% happier is our mission. So, with the help of our partners at AMS Vans, Jayden and Chanrath received a wheelchair-accessible Ford Transit—for a total impact of $54,721. For the first time, Chanrath doesn’t have to fear injury just to get her son out the door.

The van represents more than convenience. It represents dignity. Safety. Independence. It represents a future where Jayden can continue to experience the world beyond his home without exhausting his mother.

Jayden’s story is rare—his diagnoses, his path through foster care, the aunt who became his mother—but it is also universal. When it comes down to it, it’s about sacrifice and love, about what it means to put aside the life you imagined in order to give someone else the chance at theirs. In choosing Jayden, Chanrath gave him a home, stability, and unconditional love. In return, Jayden gave her patience, joy, and a deeper sense of purpose.

They became each other’s gift. Jayden’s story is proof that sometimes the most powerful families aren’t the ones we’re born into, but the ones who choose us.

And thanks to Chive Charities donors, their journey has one less mountain to climb. Thank you to every one of you who was part of it. And if you weren’t, but want to be, we always have room for more in our donor family. Our arms are wide open, waiting to bring you in. We choose you! DONATE HERE.