Jaxon’s Story
Early years
Jaxon was due on 17th December 2017 but allowed his Mum her Christmas dinner before arriving on 27th. The two Grandas would phone every single day until he arrived, they were so excited to meet their new grandchild.
And Ashley and David had chosen not to find out what they were having and so, following Callum and Abbie’s Lillie he was the first and only boy on the McKenzie side.
Because of how long the birth took, Jaxon had to spend 5 days in special care.
And he was the loudest, biggest baby that had ever been seen in special care, weighing in at a healthy 8lb 9oz!
Right from his first bottle, given to him by David while Ashley was being cared for, you couldn’t take it off him to wind him until he had the last drop.
The other babies in special care would rarely make a noise but Ashley and David could hear Jaxon crying from their room before the nurses would come and find them to let them know, and he was never quiet again since.
Everyone was so eager to see him and get a cuddle but apart from Ashley and David they had to wait until he was out of special care.
Jaxon was such a good baby, the easiest to look after of all the grandkids, and he would fall asleep anywhere.
He was content and smiley and soon became a great talker, to the point everyone had to be really careful what they said around him as he picked up and noticed everything.
Jaxon could dance as well – he was a great wee mover. Even from when he was a baby, he would have a mad half hour before bed.
After Ashley went back to work, Jaxon had a mixture of going to the childminders, Granny Jacs and Granda Davie, and Granda Alan and Granny Janet. And after a year at the childminders, he went to Little Flyers Nursery for a year and then on to Broxburn ELC. And maybe it was because of all the different places he went to that Jaxon was so good at talking and learning so early.
This did mean that you had to be careful what you told him. Even when he was tiny, during lockdown, he ran out to their back garden and shouted through to their neighbours Dode and Doris, ‘My Mum’s got a baby in her tummy!’ before Ashley and David had even told the rest of the family. Yes, no secrets were safe with Jaxon, he would 100% tell you what had happened or who had said what.
Jaxon was really kind and seemed to know from a young age how to make people laugh or smile. When his Granny Janet was working in a residential home, when Jaxon was two, he went with his Granny to chap each door on Valentines Day and give a bouquet of roses to each single woman there, some of whom had never had flowers on Valentines Day before. He was well loved at that residential home by staff and residents alike, long past when Janet stopped working there.
Jaxon was so smart. From when he was three or four, he knew all the words to The Gruffalo, knew loads of different dinosaur names and would totally know if you missed a page when you were reading him a story.
Jaxon was the only boy amongst four girl cousins and his wee sister Ayda. The order goes Lillie then Jaxon, followed by Layla, Harlie, Remi and then last but definitely not least, Ayda.
All his cousins and Ayda adored Jaxon, and he adored them right back. He had a special wee bond with each of them.
And David and Uncle Callum and Uncle Ali sometimes worried that Jaxon was too influenced by the girls. He would be totally up for playing the games Lillie organised for them all to play and the toys they had were quite girly. Once when Ashley went to pick Jaxon up from Nursery the teacher couldn’t stop laughing because Jaxon had been playing with a doll all day, and when she asked him what the doll’s name was, he said firmly, ‘Steven’. To this day they don’t know where Jaxon had got the name from!
School
And soon enough, by the time he started Broxburn Primary School, he was reading for himself and it was recognised in his school reports that reading was his strong point. Jaxon loved school. He was part of a great class who were all really good friends. His P1 teachers Mrs Garrett and Mrs Bradley and Classroom Assistant, Mrs Sutherland all helped him to start well, and this continued in P2 with Miss Mabon, with Mrs Davies showing her support as the Headteacher.
As Jaxon grew, David and Uncle Callum and Uncle Ali realised that they had nothing to worry about because with his pals at school, in their wider friend group and out playing on their street, Jaxon was a proper ‘boys boy’. enjoying being out go karting with Luke and the others.
Jaxon's Diagnosis
Jaxon went from running about, happy and healthy to very quickly becoming unwell.
As part of his treatment, Jaxon was started on steroids straight away, which he hated as they tasted minty. When they were discharged home Ashley and David were desperate for Jaxon to take these steroids and they pleaded with him to take it and told him they’d give him anything, thinking he’d ask for some fizzy juice. But Jaxon, after having taken the steroids, informed them he wanted a pet, and not any old pet, specifically a capybara… what’s that I hear you ask? So did Ashley and David initially, discovering that it is the biggest rodent in the world and owners require a licence and a couple of thousand pounds to purchase one. Suffice to say Jaxon didn’t get a real capybara. But everyone was totally ‘on it’! David’s cousin Emma drove to Edinburgh that same day to get him the Jellycat version. And although in the end Jaxon wasn’t well enough, Young Lives vs Cancer social worker Danisha had been arranging for Jaxon to go to Northumberland Zoo to have a ‘capybara experience’…the capybaras had been in training with a wheelchair being introduced to their enclosure to get used to it. Jaxon ended up with a den at the end of his bed for his growing collection of toy capybaras, eight at the last count, they would get tucked up alongside him each night!
Jaxon stopped the steroids to start the thirteen rounds of radiotherapy and it was devastating that days later, on a really tough weekend, Jaxon stopped walking and eating. Jaxon started using a wheelchair and a feeding tube and Ashley and David quickly became experts in this as well as countless other things to keep Jaxon at home as much as they could.
And although this is quite rightly all about Jaxon, the wider family have asked me to mention Ashley and David’s strength. Everyone is so proud of them and the way they calmly faced every challenge Jaxon had alongside him.
Support
All the family have been overwhelmed by all the support and kindness they have been shown. Although Jaxon finished up at school after Easter, his school friends sent him messages or special gifts and his teachers kept in touch. There was a ‘Jaunt for Jaxon’ sponsored walk which lots of them took part in. Jaxon’s wee pal Geoff walked with Jax the whole way round and the entire time Jax was unwell, Geoff has always been the exact same, he was always by his side and never treated him any different.
The whole community has been amazing and has surrounded Jaxon and all the family with love. A special mention goes to the Broxburn Fire Service Family and the Bowling Club for all they have done. It was at one of the Fire Service fundraising events, the Three Peaks Challenge, that Jaxon saw Glynn with his Mohican and was inspired to ask Auntie Katie to cut his hair like that. He even had it sprayed in his favourite colour orange for Gala Day, where all his pals thought he looked so cool.
A mention also goes to Stuart who, alongside many other things, helped to get ‘Jaxon’s Gift’ charity set up. Ashley and David hope that in time this charity can be a way of honouring Jaxon’s name while helping other families in similar situations to them.
Huge thanks go to the Royal Hospital for children and Young people – Dr Lesley Simpson, Lynda, Rachel, Shelley, Stef and all staff on Lochranza.
- Lynne for play therapy and Shannon for seeing Ashley & David.
- Marie from speech & language, Jo and Val for Hydrotherapy at St John’s.
- The Palliative care team, Ruth, Katrina & Robert.
- Children’s community nurses, especially Karen.
- The family’s Young lives vs cancer social worker, Danisha.
- The team at Ferguson medical practice, Dr Cuthbert, Dr Pearson and of course Sheena for being such a star!
- The staff at Hillingdon Hospital in London for going above and beyond for the family.
- And finally to all staff at Rachel house Children’s Hospice for being so amazing
Also a special thank you from Ashley and David goes to their families and friends for their continued support throughout this difficult time, for the phone calls, messages, walks and coffees!
All your support meant Ashley and David were able to be all they needed to be for Jaxon.
What Jaxon Loved
And with this support, Jax was able to keep doing the things he loved for as long as he could.
Jax loved the family tradition on the McKenzie side of Chinese Sunday. This was strictly family only and everyone would get together.
Jaxon always took a wee bit to warm up to things but when he did he would get really into something for a while, whether it was Paw Patrol, Loud House, Bluey (for Ayda!), Lion King or re- enacting SING the movie. He got obsessed with Elton John’s ‘I’m Still Standing’. He had a great singing voice and was good at dancing. He was asked if he wanted lessons, but he just liked to do his own thing, which he did really well. When the cousins were making a dance routine, he was either totally ‘on it’ or not into it at all.
Jaxon enjoyed several holidays over the years, with the big family villa holiday to Turkey for Granda’s 60th being a favourite, as well as trips to Moness with Jillian, Stuart, and Georgia (before Louis and Ayda were born), with an unexpected heatwave at Easter! Jaxon also enjoyed Aviemore last year with Granda Alan and Granny Janet and the trip to Disneyland with all the Grandparents in September, when Jaxon was in good form and the crew let him go into the cockpit. Jaxon was standing there, which was a really big moment for them all. He later said to his Uncle that Disneyland was ‘Better than I expected’! After Jaxon’s diagnosis his biggest enjoyment was food, fuelled by the steroids. Accordingly, the discovery of a buffet restaurant was the best bit of Disneyland for Jaxon and when Andrew introduced Jaxon to the 20 chicken nuggets meal at McDonalds, there was no going back.
By far Jaxon’s favourite food was Uncle Robert’s chilli. Uncle Robert would do a ‘chilli run’ from Newcastle, with massive big tubs of chilli for Jaxon. Jaxon would do a wee dance when it arrived and have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner until it ran out. Jaxon grew to love hydrotherapy, and it gave him a sense of freedom and the confidence to try standing again. We can’t talk about what Jaxon loved without talking about Ayda.
All Jaxon wanted when he was in hospital was to see Ayda. He was really protective of her and was always her big brother. He would be so tired sometimes, but he would still always want Ayda to go to bed first because she was younger. Jaxon made Ayda the tough cookie she is. Ashely loved school pickups every day because Jaxon and Ayda would run up to meet each other and whenever Ayda was in the buggy she would hold her hand out for Jaxon to hold.
Jaxon and Ayda had and always will have a special bond that is stronger than death.
Jaxon's Death
Although it was known Jaxon’s diagnosis was terminal, it was still very sudden when Jaxon sadly died unexpectedly and peacefully in London on 14th December, following a trip to the Lapland there, with his Mum, Dad and Ayda at his side.
Remember Jaxon
There are not enough words to describe Jaxon.
He was simply the best.
A really brave Mummy’s boy who was always smiling, funny, cheeky and kind.
Jaxon knew what he wanted, brought people together and lit up any room.
Think of your own memories of Jaxon. Talk of them often. For these are the lasting tributes to his precious name.