James R. has been an agent with the Destin Market Center since February 2019. He and his wife Ashten, a transaction coordinator, are both self-employed and have a 4-year-old son, Fenway. They live in Gulf Breeze, FL.
In late April 2025, they traveled to Chattanooga, TN for a funeral and to visit family. While there, Fenway began to have severe balance issues, far beyond the normal toddler level of clumsiness.
We noticed he couldn’t walk up a hill like the other kids who were running up and rolling down the same hill. We took him to urgent care, and they told us it did not look like an inner ear infection, so they suggested we go to the ER at The Children’s Hospital at Erlanger to get him checked. Within two hours after arriving at the ER, they did a CT scan and found a mass on his cerebellum. –James R.
Quick Action
He had surgery to remove the tumor the very next day.
A long recovery process followed, including 8 days recovering in the ICU and another surgery 6 days later to implant a shunt needed to drain the cerebral-spinal fluid. He then began physical therapy to help him retrain his brain for balance and still needs routine check-ups and scans to ensure that the cancer has not come back.
Thankfully Fenway didn’t need radiation or chemo; his gifted surgeon was able to remove the entire tumor.
Treatment Far From Home
Because they were out of town at the time of the emergency surgery, James’s family spent a long time away from home and work and they were unable to maintain their business while they helped keep 4 year old Fenway calm in the ICU. Since returning home, they have been reorganizing their life around Fenway’s new medical needs. Understandably, this has deeply impacted their ability to work, leaving little to no time for lead generation and follow up.
In addition, now that he’s approved for Medicaid and restricted to care in Florida, they have had difficulty finding medical care for Fenway. As a result, they are in the process of selling their home and relocating to Chattanooga to be closer to Fenway’s doctors and their extended family.
The family was self pay at the time of Fenway’s surgeries, but have since been approved for Medicaid for Fenway. Although a hospital charity program covered a majority of the stay in the PICU and a large portion of the surgery (which would have otherwise been $247,215!), they have nearly $15,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses.
How You Can Help
Cancer is always terrifying, but nothing is more scary than finding out your child is seriously ill. Thanks to our generous donors, KW Cares was able to assist with medical and travel expenses, so Fenway can get the care he needs.
“I donated to KW Cares regularly, but I viewed it more from a storm relief perspective. That’s so important, too. I just had never seen the side of KW Cares that helps people the way it impacted our lives. It’s hard to put into words. You never know if you’ll be put into a situation like we faced. It was so amazing to have a company take care of us like that during a very hard time.” –James R.
We’re here to provide a lifeline, and hope that our grants give parents some small measure of relief from the anxiety of medical bills.
If you know a KW associate like James, please send them our information. We want to make sure they have what they need. They can apply online at kwcares.org/grants.
The way KW Cares helped during this time was unbelievably profound. I’m a religious person. I know God put KW Cares there to help us get through this difficult time. If KW hadn’t been there, I don’t know how we’d have done it. –James R.
