DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. -- A Dinwiddie couple is facing uncertainty as their eight-year-old son battles Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a terminal disease that strips a person’s ability to use their limbs and muscles.
“Watching Jaxon go through what he has to go through is so heartbreaking as a parent,” Britney Danet said.
Danet's son is a typical kid in many ways. His favorite food is a hot dog and his German Shepard, Sarge, often curls up in bed with him.
What’s not typical for an eight-year-old is the number of doctor visits Jaxon has had to endure.
“He fell a little more than most kids,” dad Corey Danet said of the months Jaxon began learning to walk as a toddler.
Last year, just two weeks after the birth of Jaxon’s sister, the family learned of his rare diagnosis.
A neurologist told the Danets that Jaxon has DMD, for which there is no cure.
“Anything that normally like an eight-year-old kid could be able to do, Jaxon just can’t do,” Corey said.
The Danets are determined to let Jaxon battle DMD with dignity but their insurance company has twice denied their request for the one thing that could really help him keep his independence, a wheelchair.
But the Danet family isn’t giving up and is ready to do battle.
“He just likes school, which is a complete problem because he struggles physically at school,” said Corey.
“The one we have looked at and sent the insurance, he could wheel and it would go a certain number of feet, so he wouldn’t have to constantly (push) it,” Britney said.
The chair that would be modified over time as Jaxon grows costs approximately $10,000. That is money the family can’t afford to spend given the constantly growing pile of medical bills.
If that weren’t enough for one family to bear, they also tragically lost a four-month-old son in 2019.
“I honestly thought losing a child was the worst thing that we had been through. And then you get a diagnosis for your kid, and you can’t do anything to help him,” Britney said. “There is nothing I can do to take pain away, there’s nothing I can do to make him feel better.”
The family has asked only for prayers, but should you feel inclined to do more, a GoFundMeseeks to raise money for Jaxon’s wheelchair and ongoing medical care.
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