James has been an agent with the Destin Market Center since February 2019. He and his wife Ashten, a transaction coordinator, have a 4-year-old son, Fenway.

In late April 2025, they traveled from their then-home in Gulf Breeze, FL, 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.”

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, when thankfully they learned that the tumor was benign. Six days later he had another surgery 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 tumor does not come back.

Thankfully Fenway didn’t need radiation or chemo; his gifted surgeon was able to remove most of the benign tumor.

Treatment Far From Home

Because they were out of town at the time of the emergency surgery, the 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. When they returned home, they reorganized their life around Fenway’s new medical needs. Understandably, this deeply impacted their ability to work, leaving little to no time for lead generation and follow up.

Insurance restricted Fenway’s coverage to Florida, where they had difficulty finding medical care for Fenway. As a result, they sold their home and relocated to Chattanooga to be closer to Fenway’s doctors and their extended family, where James joined the Chattanooga-East Brainerd Market Center.

How You Can Help

Illness is always terrifying, but nothing is more scary than finding out your child is seriously sick. Thanks to our generous donors, KW Cares was able to assist with medical and some average cost-of-living 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.” 

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.”