By Tyer Marr

Jam Man spreads some support for Jackson’s Journey

Jul 8, 2017 | 3:42 PM

In the face of two family members grappling with Multiple Sclerosis, Jackson Lepage wanted to give back to these two people who had given him so much.

Recently, the 11-year-old kicked off Jackson’s Journey to Fight MS. It is a project he devised in honour of his God Parent’s Laurie and Gord Laturnas who are battling the disease. Gord was diagnosed when Jackson was a child and Laurie nearly four years ago.

“Both my God Parents always supported me and they always come to all my sports games and things like that and that is what is keeping me going,” he said.

Before his birthday on Nov. 8, Jackson hopes to raise $4,000 and walk upwards of 400 kilometres — the distance which  Laurie and Gord travelled from P.A. to Regina to be close to family and medical treatment. So far, he has raised $2,200 and walked 110 kilometres.

For Jackson’s mother Christina, to see her son take on this project warmed her heart. Although early in the process, she said support from the community has been great.

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“At first I thought it was a bit too big of a project but it has been such an amazing journey,” she said. Jackson first sought to walk from P.A. to Regina but decided to scale back and see where the journey would take him. 

A display of community support along his journey could be observed Saturday at Gateway Mall. Prince Albert’s Jam Man Charlie Squire had reached out to the family and expressed a desire to sell his products and donate all the funds raised to the young man’s project.

The cause is one close to Squire’s heart, who has lost a daughter, sister-in-law, nephew and possibly one other family member to the disease.

“I like to help young people that have the initiative to do things for others,” the ninety-year-old said, adding he “admired” Jackson and that he was “naturally an inspiration.”

“We need more young people to step forward,” he said. “You should help young people and encourage them to keep doing what they are doing as they will make wonderful citizens for their lifetime.”

Jackson smiled when asked how it felt to work with Squire. He welcomed the support as he “would not be able to do this by myself.”

The young man has hosted barbeques to help raise funds and has walked rigorously to reach his goal. Recently, he and some friends ventured 6.5 kilometres from his families home outside of town to Humpty’s Family Restaurant where, when management heard of his cause, sponsored his meal and helped Jackson raise $100.

Though light on details as to where the next fundraising initiative may be, Jackson encouraged people to follow his journey on Facebook.

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr