By Michael W. Pannell
Photography by Jessica Whitley

For 15 years, Jay’s Hope has worked to improve the quality of life of children with cancer and their families in Macon and throughout Georgia. The faith-based, charitable organization does so by enlisting volunteers, donors and others to bring hope through a variety of social, emotional, spiritual, educational and financial support efforts.
But there’s an added dimension.
Talking to those who know about Jay’s Hope, you hear the organization isn’t only about fulfilling lofty goals. Grateful for such things as gas cards, food money and desperately needed payments of bills and rent, those touched by Jay’s Hope are appreciative of something else just as valuable.
“I love them,” said Sydney Stile, mother of 6-year-old Griffin, who was diagnosed with leukemia last year and who saw an increase in her own Lupus-related health problems due to the strain.
“I quit my job to care for him but had to return to working night shifts to be around during the day,” she said. “I ended up getting sicker and bills mounted. It’s scary not knowing how things will work out but Jay’s Hope stepped in and helped with the burden. It’s meant more than anything having them calling, visiting, always asking if there’s something they can do. Sickness isolates you, but I feel like I’ve gotten a good friend. Not feeling alone is such a big thing.”
Stile said even during the worst of COVID-19 there was never a resistance from Jay’s Hope, but always a shoulder to cry on.
If that added dimension can be called compassion and understanding, it has come to Jay’s Hope the hard way.
Begun in 2006 by Cindy Gaskins and her husband, Jason, their own nightmare-journey of losing their child, Jay, to Medulloblastoma led to Jay’s Hope’s creation and efforts to provide needed practical aid for young patients and their families in caring ways.
“We got more bad news than good, and not a lot of hope,” Gaskins said. “I eventually became adamant about not hearing percentages or statistics of my child’s condition anymore. I said quit telling me and just do everything possible to save Jay. That’s where the Bible verse Jay’s Hope uses comes from: ‘Against all hope, in hope we believe’ (Romans 4:18).”
The Gaskins know the heart-wrenching situation and the need for hope families have.
“My momma’s gut knew something wasn’t right before Jay was diagnosed,” Gaskins said. “At the doctor’s office where we got the bad news, I went and locked myself in the bathroom crying. I had to leave the situation and let my husband ask all the questions. I was eight months pregnant, too. My husband came to the door asking, ‘Cindy, are you OK? Will you come out?’ It was just so hard.”
Travel, surgery and treatment at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital meant long weeks in strange surroundings while the demands of a disrupted life continued back home with Jason and their other children. She said being separated was difficult but school, work, bills and other family activities went on.
“We were a weekend family,” she said.
Jay eventually succumbed to cancer. They understand the un-understandable.
“But we were blessed with a strong support team of family, friends and a great church family that we depended on,” she said. “But sitting with other mothers and families I saw so many who didn’t. So many needed help and were alone. Jay’s Hope was birthed in the midst of that.”
Gaskins said after Jay’s death she was angry with God. She told Him she wasn’t talking to Him because He hadn’t answered the biggest prayer of her life. She said, even so, she found God to be patient and felt His compassionate presence for herself and Jay. She said she began understanding His love for her and others in new ways, and that Jay had been granted a “heavenly healing if not an earthly one.”
She said she resolved to share hope and love with others in practical, sincere ways.
“Truthfully, we started Jay’s Hope in the midst of our battle,” she said. “We made little care packages for others around us and bought gas cards for patients’ families. And I knew there was nothing better than just being able to talk with someone who gets it, someone who’s been there and knows the heartache and hard times.”
Gaskins said her family’s experience prepared her to serve others. The fact she graduated from Mercer University in human services and social work wasn’t lost on her, either.
Jay’s Hope’s first large project happened almost off-handedly.
“We started with $500 and our first offering of hope to someone came when we learned of a girl battling a brain tumor,” she said. “Her family was at risk of losing their home and our $500 wasn’t nearly enough. I didn’t want to just throw a little money their way; I felt we should take care of the whole burden. I contacted people to help and, in a few hours, we raised what they needed. I took that as a ‘Godwink,’ a sign we were doing what we were supposed to be doing.”
Fifteen years later, she said Jay’s Hope has never turned anyone away and that what they can’t handle, they find other individuals and organizations that can.
In those 15 years, Jay’s Hope has developed a Circle of Hope representing their activities and services supported by fundraisers and friends. The circle includes helping in the areas of:
• Hospital stays, hotel costs and care gifts.
• Travel expenses to treatment away from home.
• Mortgages, utilities and home repairs.
• Social and emotional support for the entire family.
• Educational support and tutoring to stay on track in school.
• Uninsured treatments, therapies and medications.
Christie Johnson, Jay’s Hope’s development director, offered a sampling of statistics reflecting the organization’s work:
• Jay’s Hope serves 579 families throughout the state.
• The majority, 258 patients, are in Middle Georgia.
• Jay’s Hope patients are treated at hospitals around the nation.
• More than 70 percent of families travel 50-plus miles at some point for treatment.
• Camp Hope 4 Kids with Cancer is conducted annually for cancer patients and their siblings, who the organization always includes in its work. Thinking it would start with a dozen in an art camp, the original number was more than 40. In 2021, nearly 150 were involved in a full-range camp — a safe place where other kids understand.
• Hope 4 the Holidays is an annual Christmas party where more than 100 individual and business sponsors adopt wish lists of some 250 patients and siblings.
There are other Jay’s Hope activities and monthly events where children, siblings and parents are served and community built. These include back-to-school bashes, trips to sporting events like Macon Bacon games, Christmas ornament exchanges for moms and, around Thanksgiving, an after-hours night at the Museum of Arts and Sciences that includes animal and planetarium shows, crafts, secret Santa shopping and dinner.
“Jay’s Hope is great — beyond great,” said Kim Mullis. Mullis’ daughter, Kinleigh, is 8 and battling a brain tumor. The two just finished five weeks of treatment in Atlanta.
“They are a God-send,” she said. “They go over-and-above to make sure families don’t have a care in the world. They even leave random things on the porch for all my kids. It’s wonderful.”
It’s telling how Mullis found out about Jay’s Hope.
“I didn’t,” she said. “I’d never heard of them but a volunteer heard about Kinleigh and told them. They got in touch with me and even though I was so overwhelmed with Kinleigh that I didn’t get back to them, they kept calling. Last Christmas, during a hospital stay, they told me to make a list for all my kids and they’d take care of it. It made things so much better on top of everything else they do.”
Kinleigh is Mullis’ youngest child and she said when Kinleigh got sick it felt like her whole life had ended.
“But she’s such a strong girl,” Mullis said. “I’m a big crybaby. At times she’s told me, ‘Mom, quit freaking out. I’m strong.’ It’s been good having Jay’s Hope on our side helping us be strong.”
Kristie Garnett is a Jay’s Hope supporter-volunteer and teacher at Heritage Elementary School. It was Garnett who heard about Kinleigh and told Jay’s Hope.
“I got involved with them 10 years ago because of what I saw them doing for kids and families,” she said. “The more I learned, the more I knew I had to be a part. It’s a hard row to hoe for families with children with cancer and there’s a special bond Jay’s Hope makes because of who Cindy and Jason are and what they’ve been through. You know when you call Cindy about someone she’s going to show up with a smile on her face, a prayer in heart and be asking, ‘How can we help?’”

How can you help Jay’s Hope Foundation bring hope to others?
• Donations are welcome and tax-deductible.
• Become a regular Jay’s Hope Gem.
• Collect items for Jay’s Hope’s Wish Lists.
• Support Hope 4 the Holidays
• Get involved with fundraising and other events like their Blind Wine Tasting, Hats 4 Hope, Hawgs 4 Hope, the 5k and Fun Run Trek or Treat, and special funding efforts like Wings of Hope.
• Learn more about Jay’s Hope at jayshope.org, email info@jayshope.org or call 478-238-6360.