JANE HARRELL
Jane’s bright spirit continued to lead and love, uplifting others around her, despite being told she would die from DIPG at age 17. With five short months to live from diagnosis to death, Jane faced incomprehensible suffering and fear with faith and courage.
Having self-diagnosed a brain tumor using Google after failed attempts to treat dizziness, vision loss, and frequent falls with iron pills and increased fluids, Jane pleaded with her mom on the way to the MRI scan not to proceed: “You and Dad don’t deserve the pain of a kid with a brain tumor. It’s too much for the family.”
“Jane stood out as a star throughout her life, because she encouraged others to ‘be the best they can be,’ leading by example in all types of circumstances.”
- Mike Harrell
TERMINAL PEDIATRIC CANCER
Choosing not to prolong life with feeding tubes and ventilators, Jane made choices at the end of her life to keep her family together. Her decision to live each moment in the present without complaining united her family and gave them the strength to press on in crisis with bravery and love.
Despite losing the ability to walk, see, or eat, Jane made jokes about enemas, bladder catheterizations, and falls that kept her on the bathroom floor at all hours. She took charge during the low moments and calmly gave orders: “Mom, I need to die in the hospital because it’s too weird and unfair for Piper, Max, and Sam to have a hospital bed in the dining room and watch their sister die. Our house is where kids come to eat popsicles and play games.” Jane’s strength, wisdom, and refusal to feel sorry for herself during a time of dark despair is the spark that planted the seed for Jane’s Fund.
SMILES
From an early age, Jane recognized the simple power of a smile in building confidence and encouraging both adults and kids through hardship. At age six, she mailed dollar bills to Smile Train, a charity that creates smiles by providing free cleft surgery. At age seven, Jane convinced her younger siblings to donate the $874 they had saved for their backyard treehouse to help pay for more surgeries for kids to smile.
During her cancer treatments, Jane pleaded with her family to pay for braces for one of the healthcare workers that transported her to radiation treatments whose crooked teeth made him insecure about smiling. Jane taught him the secrets of rubber-band wearing as he found shortcuts to navigate the halls of the hospital to limit her nausea and dizziness.
EDUCATION
At age 6, Jane learned that our city has kids who are homeless and don’t have money for school supplies. She was inspired to launch a backpack drive, which grew exponentially from year to year as she reached out to classmates, neighbors and fellow church members for help.
SPORTS
From a young age, Jane was exposed to a variety of SPORTS. Sports gave Jane confidence in all areas of life as she learned to lose, fail, and get back up again. Jane witnessed the power of teamwork and how sports can tear down biases, create unity, and provide life-changing growth. Struggling with anxiety at times, Jane learned that sports are a tool to fight fear. Ultimately, the bumps and bruises combined with victories that Jane endured in various sports competitions prepared her for victory during the final uphill fight to Heaven.
CAMP
Jane recognized the infinite possibilities of camp experiences after she met a homeless woman at a shelter. “Queen Bee” asked Jane if she wanted to visit her “camp,” an adventure that involved a trip in her mom’s minivan down a dirt road and along railroad tracks to an opening in the woods. The camp had a smoldering fire for making tea and a large hole in the ground for sleeping and finding shade and shelter in all types of weather. Eating dinner together on the ground, Queen Bee joked that "camp is any place your bottom sits."
Inspired by the experience, Jane started hosting summer camps in her backyard. Camp proved to be a place for athletes, bookworms, and future scientists who learn to work together, build lifelong friendships, discover hidden gifts and ignite new ideas.
SHINE LIKE JANE
Jane had an innate ability to recognize when someone is lonely, broken or struggling and developed the courage to dive into the darkness and give light. Alone with her parents several hours after being told she was going to die, one of Jane’s initial questions was, “Why me? I thought I was going to grow up and make a difference in the world?” A few weeks later, Jane answered her own question when writing a senior chapel talk she knew she would not live to share: “I recognize now it is not I who is going to change the world; the job belongs to each of you. You are the light of the world. Shine it. You are the salt of the earth. Use your gifts.”
