By Elianna Novitch
Dance Marathon provides for patients at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital and their families in many different ways. For some, it is financial support paired with community and for other families like Jackson Gipe’s it is emotional support.
“Our story with Dance Marathon is a little bit different than a lot of the cancer families,” said Jackson’s mother Anna Ertz. “Jackson was diagnosed on June 27, 2014, just five days after his 12th birthday. His cancer journey only lasted 47 days before he passed away on Aug. 11, 2014.”
Jackson was diagnosed with T-Cell ALL Acute Leukemia, a type of blood cancer.
Jackson was a summer patient at the UI Children’s Hospital, so during his stay, many of the Dance Marathon student dancers were gone. His family became a Dance Marathon family during his stay in the hospital.
“Jackson was just so sick and then he died in such a short time, that we never even realized the full capacity of Dance Marathon until we went to our first [Big Event] five months after he passed away,” Ertz said.
“Even though Jackson wasn’t with us, we realized we were a part of a group that was doing something bigger than themselves. Jackson never had the chance to go to a Dance Marathon or even knew that there was a group of students working for him.”
Jackson’s family is considered a “Dancing in Our Hearts” family by the Dance Marathon organization. These families’ children have passed away, but they are still a part of the Dance Marathon family.
“We rely on Dance Marathon for emotional support more than anything. It’s nice to have a group of people who are able to understand what we’ve been through and what we’re still going through even though he isn’t with us,” Ertz said. “You can talk about cancer with these people and no one shies away from it. You feel like you are a part of a family; a family you didn’t know you were going to be a part of but you feel comfort.”
Besides just gaining emotional support from Dance Marathon, Jackson’s family also gained a new “family” member.
“Jackson was a huge Iowa Hawkeye football fan and so the workers arranged for some Hawkeyes to come visit him,” Ertz said. Among the players who visited Jackson in the hospital on Aug. 9, 2014, was Jordan Canzeri.
The visit came just days before Jackson passed away.
“I’ve always had an interest and drive to get involved at the hospital,” he said. “Through football, we would get calls about visiting kids who wanted to meet football players, and I was always willing to go.”
The Hawkeye tootball team has long played an active role in the hospital and Dance Marathon.
“I remember getting the text from my football adviser about visiting a patient at the hospital when we were starting camp in the summer,” Canzeri said. “It was right before second practice, and I was dead tired and thought about saying no, but when I thought about what those kids go through, not going just because I was tired was not an excuse.”
Canzeri went on the visit with two other teammates.
“The sad thing was, I never even got to have a full conversation with Jackson. When we showed up, he was heavily sedated with medicine with tubes coming out of everywhere and was using a breathing tube,” Canzeri said. “The one thing his mom and I remember so vividly from that visit was when she whispered that there were Iowa Hawkeye football players here to visit him, his heart rate shot up.
“We felt like he knew we were there even though he could barely open his eyes and be there.”
Just a few days after his visit with Jackson, Canzeri learned that he had passed away.
“It was jarring to have just been with him a few days before and all of a sudden he was gone,” Canzeri said. “It really puts life into perspective with what those kids and families have to go through and makes you realize that your problems are small.”
“We had some ‘I’m with Jackson’ support bracelets that we offered to the players to wear, and they said they would wear them, and we just kind of brushed it off,” Ertz said. “But when we attended the first Hawkeye football game that season, we saw that Jordan was wearing Jackson’s band on his wrist.”
After that football game, Canzeri was spotted wearing Jackson’s bracelet in other games and TV interviews. After that, Ertz decided to reach out to Canzeri to say thank you.
“I decided to wear that bracelet every day to honor him and to represent all kids who have lost their lives to fighting cancer,” Canzeri said. “It was the least I could do.”
Little did he know just how much that would mean to the Ertz family and how his relationship with them would change.
“They ended up asking me to come to the Dance Marathon with them and come on stage with them. It was an honor for me,” Canzeri said. “Just going there and seeing the love of the family and of Anna and how positive they were being after their loss had me in awe.”
By the end of the evening they had become as close as family.
“All I wanted to do was give back in any way I could by wearing Jackson’s bracelet, but now it has turned into them becoming my second family, and I couldn’t be more honored or blessed,” Canzeri said. “The circumstances under which we met weren’t something I ever wish had to have happened, but I thank God for having put a person like Anna in my life.”
The Ertz family has since attended Hawkeye football games to support Jordan, and they met his parents and attended his graduation. They even named their new baby “Augustus Jordan” — representing the month of August which is the month Jackson passed away.
Jackson’s younger sister, Lydia Gipe, considers herself to be close to Canzeri and loves the community that Dance Marathon provides to her.
“It is indescribable,” she said. “They help me see that I’m not the only one going through this and that I have people there to support me.”
Jackson’s family has had the opportunity to attend two Big Events and value the experiences they had at them.
“[The Big Event] is awe-inspiring. That first year we attended, I’ll never forget hearing the loud music and chanting from the students as we walked in as a reminder that they are all there for you,” Ertz said. “It is one of those moments that you can’t explain to people because it is just so overwhelming in a good way. You just can’t say thank you enough to everyone involved.”
