When Support Makes a Life Changing Impact

Throughout the years, Apex Spring & Stamping, along with many of our team members, made a commitment to support and volunteer for several charities. The heartbeat of our culture has always been to give back, display love, and help those within the communities that surround us. For over 20 years, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital has been one of the recipients of our efforts. A little over six years ago, we would have never imagined the that one of our own would be directly impacted by the resources and benefits of this organization.

Here is the story of the Janiszewski Family.

“As we enter the holiday season, our family reflects on a difficult season of life that took place November 2015. It was a time in our life that we will never forget and an unexpected journey that changed our family forever.

Our oldest son, Landon, was experiencing unexplained headaches. After months of these headaches, we were able to get an MRI scheduled for him the day after his 5th birthday. That MRI changed turned our life upside down.

The results came in and the doctors sat us down to receive news that no parent should ever have to hear. The doctors had discovered a golfball-sized tumor at the base of Landon’s brain. We were immediately admitted to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital and scheduled for surgery.

The surgery was 12 grueling hours long, but they were able to successfully remove the entire tumor. We were then told that portions of that tumor would be sent to St. Jude’s Research Hospital for further testing to determine exactly what we were dealing with. Unfortunately, testing determined it was, in fact, cancer, and more specifically, Medulloblastoma.

Although this was not the news that we had prayed and hoped for, the testing done at St. Jude’s allowed us to learn more information about this specific subtype and discover genetic markers to treat Landon’s cancer. This testing gave our son the best chance of survival.

Treatment consisted of 10 months of craniospinal radiation along with intense chemotherapy. And although surgery was a success, it also left Landon with many physical impairments. He had to relearn how to walk, talk, write, and even how to eat. He suffered painful burns from the radiation and and he also experienced multiple side effects from the chemotherapy.

It has been incredibly challenging for our family to walk this path, but seeing our life today, every moment was worth the fight. Landon just turned 11 years old and celebrated 6 years since his diagnosis and 5 years since his treatment ended. He remains cancer free and continues to make progress with the physical effects that surgery caused. Survivorship comes at a price, but we are forever grateful for everyone that helped get us through this journey and continues to lift our family up during difficult times.”

Apex Spring and Stamping has been a long time supporter of St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, but now our commitment to serving and supporting organizations like this has become more important than ever. We have seen and felt first hand the fruits of our efforts and we are forever grateful for the impact that St. Jude’s had on Landon’s life and the Janiszewski family.

In this season of giving, we hope this inspires you to consider supporting an organization that is doing good in your community. Lives are forever changed because of the support we choose to give.