BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Jan. 31, 2019– Ten-year-old Jaylen Young has lost his life after battling cancer for about 4 months. He was diagnosed in September of 2018, and by December he was fully paralyzed.
News5 first aired Jaylen’s story on January 23. His mother had asked the public to send him “get well soon” cards to lift his spirits. It was revealed in that newscast that Jaylen had brainstem glioma, which is a cancerous tumor in the brainstem.
When we spoke to Jaylen’s father, Michael Young, he told us that Jaylen began experiencing paralysis in late November. It started in his right foot, then his right hand, spine, and then it spread to the left side of his body. Before long, Jaylen was not able to speak or eat. He had to be fed through a tube and only communicated by moving his eyes.
People with brainstem glioma normally do not live a year past diagnosis, and Young told us that doctors had stopped treating Jaylen when he was diagnosed, saying there was nothing they could do for him. About a month ago, Jaylen also began experiencing seizures.
Young told us that on Monday evening, January 28, Jaylen started vomiting everything that he was receiving through the feeding tube. Jaylen’s parents then took him to the hospital.
Yesterday morning, Young said he went to work but his wife called him saying that their son was not responding.
oung rushed to the hospital and, when he tried to listen to Jaylen’s heartbeat, it was beating rapidly.
He said that Jaylen then gasped for air, and a few minutes later gasped again. After that, around 10 a.m., he stopped breathing, and his heartbeat stopped.
Young said he will remember his son, who is the second oldest of 4 children, as an energetic person who loved running, fishing, and making jokes. He was a good student, always being ranked in the top 5 in his classes. He was to enter into Standard 4.
When we asked if Jaylen had received any cards from the public, he told us that yes, people did send in cards.