How Faith, Community, and Integrative Care Helped One Family Face Pediatric Cancer

Weathering the Storm: One Family’s Journey Through Pediatric Cancer

It was a beautiful early summer evening, and the Jacobi family was settling into their first home. After weeks of renovations and moving, Jason and Melissa Jacobi finally felt as though they were finding their rhythm.

They decided to celebrate the return of normal life with burgers on the grill.

Their two-year-old son, Luca, had been running a slight fever, but it was minor and came and went. They thought it might be related to his two-year molars. When they returned home from the grocery store, Luca seemed tired, so they put on Ice Age while Jason went outside to begin grilling.

Then Jason heard Melissa scream.

He ran inside and saw Luca shaking on the couch. Having seen someone experience a seizure before, Jason immediately recognized what was happening.

“Melissa, call 911,” he told her.

Jason rolled Luca onto his side and tried to remain calm, reassuring his little boy: “It’s okay. Just be strong.”

A neighbor came over and took their oldest son, Jackson, away from the frightening scene. As they waited for help, Jason prayed over Luca.

That evening would become the last “normal” their family would experience for more than two years.

A Diagnosis No Family Expects

The emergency medical team initially suspected a febrile seizure caused by Luca’s temperature rapidly rising from 99 to 104 degrees. At the local hospital, however, a doctor decided to run blood tests as a precaution.

When the doctor returned, he asked whether Luca was anemic.

Jason and Melissa said no.

The doctor explained that the other possibility was leukemia.

“At that point it feels like a dream,” Jason recalls. “It doesn’t feel real.”

Luca was transferred to a children’s hospital for additional testing. By 4:30 the following morning, the family received the diagnosis: Luca had acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL.

They were told they would not be going home. Luca would need scans to determine whether the cancer had spread to his brain or spine, followed by surgery for a port and the beginning of chemotherapy.

Because Luca’s illness had first revealed itself through a seizure, Jason feared the cancer had reached his brain. When the scans came back clear, the family received its first small victory.

Jason remembers Melissa’s response to the diagnosis—the unmistakable wail of a mother hearing that her child has cancer.

He turned to her and said, “Cry now. But when Luca wakes up, we need to be strong, because he’s going to feed off of us.”

He also reminded her, “No matter what happens, there’s no one else I’d rather go through this with than you.”

Taking It One Day—and One Win—at a Time

Jason and Melissa were both former college athletes. Faced with a situation they could not control, they began approaching it one small step at a time.

“We need small wins,” Jason remembers thinking. “We’ve got to take it just day by day, step by step.”

Their first goal was simply to make it through the initial two weeks in the hospital.

At the same time, they began speaking with doctors, caseworkers, other families, and organizations that could help them understand the road ahead. Slowly, what Jason calls their “village” began to form.

But when the family finally returned home, Jason found himself unable to sleep one night. He went downstairs and lay on the couch, looking through the window at the full moon over the backyard.

There, he surrendered the situation to God.

“I’d give up everything—the earthly riches, my health,” he recalls. “I wish I could take it away. Give it to me. I’d be happy to sacrifice myself for my son.”

Jason and Melissa had been strong Christians before Luca’s diagnosis, but the experience deepened their dependence on their faith.

“We can’t get through this without You, Jesus,” Jason prayed.

“From that point, God’s really carried us through.”

Building an Integrative Plan Around Luca’s Treatment

The Jacobi family connected with Believe Big during the first week of Luca’s cancer journey.

Before the diagnosis, Jason and Melissa already considered themselves health-conscious. They exercised and tried to eat well, but cancer brought a new urgency to learning about treatments and their potential long-term effects.

Luca was very young and needed an intensive course of chemotherapy. Jason and Melissa wanted the drugs to work, but they also wanted to do everything they could to support his body throughout treatment.

“We’re going to do everything that we can integratively to give Luca the best possibility and the best outcomes possible,” Jason says.

Through Believe Big, the family connected with integrative oncologists who reviewed Luca’s treatment schedule and genetic testing. They developed a customized plan around his chemotherapy cycles, helping the family understand what they could and could not incorporate at different points.

For Jason, having a coordinated plan gave the family peace of mind.

“We need the drugs to work. We need the chemo to work. He’s got blood cancer. It’s very aggressive,” he explains. “But how can we help him thrive through it and be healthy?”

The family began to describe chemotherapy and integrative support with an analogy:

“Chemo is chopping down the tree, and integrative care is the soil around the tree that helps new growth happen.”

Jason says their goal was not simply for Luca to survive treatment, but to thrive through it. He remembers chasing his energetic son through the hospital hallways while pushing Luca’s IV pole.

“It made a huge difference,” he says.

Becoming an Advocate for Your Child

During one of the medical team’s early hospital rounds, Jason asked how the doctors would respond if the family wanted to incorporate vitamins, supplements, or other integrative therapies.

He made it clear that they did not want to interfere with Luca’s conventional treatment. Instead, he placed the question in the doctors’ hands and asked how the family should proceed.

“I’m a really stubborn guy,” he told them. “I’m going to do what’s best for my child.”

The medical team asked the family to send them anything they were considering so it could be reviewed by the pharmacy.

For Jason, asking questions helped reveal whether the doctors would take a collaborative approach to Luca’s care. Rather than entering the conversation “with all guns blazing,” as Ivelisse described it, Jason approached the team with curiosity while remaining firm in his responsibility to advocate for his son.

That advocacy became especially important when Luca did not follow the typical path into remission.

Jason explains that approximately 95 percent of children with ALL go into remission after the first month. Luca did not. His medical team began discussing CAR T-cell therapy and bone marrow transplantation, and Luca ultimately received a more intensive, standard high-risk treatment protocol.

“He got pounded even more so with chemo than the normal ALL kids,” Jason says. “Integrative became that much more important, and detox became that much more important because he was inpatient more and had higher doses of things.”

Despite the intensity of his treatment, Jason says Luca did very well.

The Financial Weight of Childhood Cancer

Cancer also brought an enormous financial and administrative burden.

Jason continued working from the hospital with the support of his clients, family, and coworkers. Meanwhile, Melissa and her sister Lauren managed the flood of medical bills.

The family used Christian Healthcare Ministries for healthcare cost sharing. Bills arrived constantly, especially in the beginning, and each one had to be recorded, paid, tracked, and submitted for reimbursement.

“It’s like 40 bills a day initially,” Jason recalls.

The total cost of Luca’s treatment reached more than $3 million, according to Jason. A hospital room alone cost approximately $17,000 per night before accounting for doctors, nurses, medications, and other care.

During the second year, the family learned about a state program that helped manage bills related to catastrophic illness. Support also came through a GoFundMe campaign, meals, food deliveries, and a Believe Big grant that allowed the family to meet with integrative doctors.

“It takes a village,” Jason says. “People really rallied around us.”

Finding People Who Understand the Journey

When asked what he wished he had known on the first day, Jason’s answer was simple: lean on people who have already walked through it, and find a community.

Melissa connected with other cancer mothers who could share their experiences and discuss what had helped their families. Jason found that this type of community was not as readily available to fathers, who often had to return to work while trying to determine how their families would remain financially stable.

He now believes that men need those relationships, too.

“Walking through it with people that have walked through it—or at least are willing to listen to you and walk that journey with you—is huge,” he says.

Jason wishes he had felt more comfortable expressing his emotions and telling others when he was struggling.

Sometimes support came through deep conversations. Other times, it looked like friends helping around the house, bringing dinner, or spending time with the boys.

Each person became part of the family’s village.

A Life Centered on Gratitude

Today, Luca is healthy and able to enjoy the everyday experiences of childhood—scooting around, scraping his knees, smiling, and simply being a kid.

For Jason and Melissa, gratitude does not mean forgetting what their family endured. It means recognizing how precious life is while continually returning to the foundation of their faith.

“I’ve got to give it all to Jesus,” Jason says.

The family remains aware that not every parent receives the outcome they did. Remembering the families who have lost children keeps the reality of their own blessings close.

“The raw reality of how lucky and how precious life is has really centered us,” Jason says. Their faith in Jesus has allowed them “to maintain a heart full of gratitude even amidst the storm.”

Near the end of the conversation, Jason shared a quote Melissa had found that beautifully reflects the way they carried their children through the hardest days:

“The kids will never know the storms that we weathered, but they’ll know the roof never leaked.”

Jason hopes his family’s story can help change lives, bring others to Jesus, encourage progress toward less toxic and less harmful treatments, and help bridge the gap between traditional medicine and holistic integrative health.

You Do Not Have to Walk Through Cancer Alone

If you are navigating cancer and need prayer or support, Believe Big is here for you. Call 888-317-5850 and ask to speak with a patient advocate. Believe Big also provides free Bibles for anyone who is curious about a relationship with Jesus or searching for hope during a difficult season.

Listen to the complete conversation with Jason Jacobi on the Believe Big Podcast to hear more about Luca’s journey, the Jacobi family’s faith, and the community that helped carry them through.