Coeur d'Alene boy fighting for his life
<p>Christ the King Child Development Center is holding a spaghetti feed and dessert auction fundraiser for 6-year-old Jaykob Morse - pictured with his mother Janine - who was diagnosed with aplastic anemia</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - It started one December day when Jaykob Morse began feeling ill.
Since then, the Coeur d'Alene 6-year-old has been fighting for his life.
"One day everything is fine, and the next day your world is upside down," said Jaykob's grandmother, Chris Inlow. "We just didn't realize how fast life can change."
That change came when Jakob - son of Janine and Matt Morse - was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a rare, life-threatening blood disorder where bone marrow cannot produce cells. The diagnosis came following Christmas, after Jaykob had been recovering from a weakened liver condition discovered earlier that month.
Jaykob first went to Kootenai Medical Center Dec. 2 with severe pain.
He was discharged, but at a follow-up appointment his liver problem was discovered and he was sent to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, spending 17 days there. The aplastic anemia was diagnosed soon after Christmas.
Now, doctors are hoping his marrow will begin working on its own. If it doesn't, he will be transported to a Seattle hospital for chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.
"We're all very overwhelmed," said Inlow, a second-grade teacher at Ramsey Elementary School. "We're relying on prayers. It's hard to get up every morning, but on the other hand, we are very blessed with the community support."
To help the family with finances, Christ the King Child Development Center, where Janine worked and Jaykob attended, will be holding a spaghetti feed and dessert auction fundraiser at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
Jaykob has spent much of his time at Sacred Heart and Janine has taken a medical leave of absence to be with him.
"All the teachers are coming together on Sunday to make it possible," said Robyn Oswald, a family friend and child care teacher. "It's a community coming together and, right now with the economy the way it is, it's the right thing to do."
Tickets cost $6 or $10 for a family. A bank account for Jaykob has been set up under his name at all Sterling Savings bank locations.
Christ the King is at 1700 E. Pennsylvania Ave. in Coeur d'Alene.
"It's been very heartbreaking," Inlow said. "As a grandma you just want to cry, but you can't. You have to do what you have to do to help him."
RSVP to Earl Harrison, 699-0205.