Born with sickle cell disease, Jayden would often suffer from infections, fevers, and crisis episodes. As he grew older, the disease would limit his ability to play his favorite sport – baseball.

Jayden’s family was referred to Columbia, where he received a successful bone marrow transplant. Columbia is one of the largest centers in the country that conducts such transplants. Over the last five years, Columbia has achieved 100 percent event-free survival in sickle cell patients undergoing transplants using a matched sibling donor—as was the case with Jayden. His younger brother, Justin, supplied the bone marrow that helped saved his life.

Hope & Heroes supported Jayden and his family through the Survivor Wellness and Psycho-Social Programs. These programs offered counseling for the entire family while Jayden was in treatment and helped create an educational and wellness plan to help him be successful in school, healthy in life and back on the baseball field.