We wanted to take a moment to share an update from Hanah, Jason’s wife, whose strength and dedication continue to carry forward Jason’s legacy. Jason’s journey deeply resonated with our community, as even in his hardest moments, Jason remained committed to helping others. Below, Hanah shares a heartfelt message about Jason’s final chapter, the special role their beloved service dog Rex continues to play, and how their family is honoring Jason’s life by advocating for patients in need through their work with NMDP. We are honored to share her words with you.
"An update on Jason and Rex:
Jason passed away from MDS and AML. Jason fought until the bitter end but his body just got tired. He left behind numerous family members and friends, but also his beloved service dog Rex.
Rex has since been retired from “official” service dog duties, however still is a huge support for his family. He returned home with myself, Jason’s wife Hanah, and our sons Wyatt and Ethan. When our world shattered, Rex brought us all peace. When the pain tore through our hearts, he offered us unconditional love and snuggles. We needed Rex to be with us to make our family as complete as possible while dealing with an unimaginable loss.
To this day, Rex is helping those around him. He is very well known in his community and offers so much love to those around him. Friends, family, neighbors, and community members recognize him and seek him out for snuggles.
Jason was blessed to have a stranger through NMDP (formally known as be the match) donate their stem cells to try to help cure his cancer. Unfortunately for Jason, it was just too late. Jason and I worked with NMDP even while he was in the middle of chemo to bring awareness to NMDP and their mission! NMDP was a huge help to us in not only helping Jason find a match, but growing the registry! Jason said many times that it wasn’t just about him needing a match, that he wanted to grow and diversify the registry to give anyone in his position the opportunity to live.
Since Jason passed away, our family has continued to volunteer with NMDP to hold registry drives to grow the registry. We attend drives, work with media, contact universities for future drives, and work extremely hard to try to share Jason’s legacy. Jason was always working to help others and we want to continue his legacy.
NMDP (formally known as Be the Match) is an organization that helps add stem cell or bone marrow donors to the registry. Those individuals are called only if they were ever a match to a patient in need. To join the registry, it is as simple as a cheek swab! If you are ever matched, 90% of the time donating is done by PBSC (similar to donating platelets or plasma). Such an easy way to save a life! For more information on how easy it is to save a life, please visit: https://my.bethematch.org/heroes4jason.
If you decide you want to join the registry in honor of Jason’s story, please use the above link and you can have a swab kit mailed to your home! If you are over 40 or unable to join the registry, share the link to others! Events we will be at can be found on a Facebook page called Heroes4Jason
My family can not thank everyone enough! Thank you to Jason’s donor too! You offered us so much hope and thank you isn’t enough!"
