Jay’s Juniors has magical mission for sick children and their families
Clinton Twp. family one of most recent to receive goodwill
Ever wonder why dreams come true for some people?
Jay Towers wanted to be on the radio personality since he was a kid. Now that he’s living the dream, he’s able to use his career as a Detroit radio and television host to support Jay’s Juniors and its magical mission for children with chronic or terminal illnesses.
Towers’ day begins at 2:45 a.m.
However, such hours are not a burden for the news anchor on WJBK-TV (Fox 2) and host of “Jay Towers in the Morning” on WNIC-FM 100.3 (iHeart Media).
“I’ll never complain about it,” said Towers, as he’s not only doing the job that he’s wanted since he was 5-years-old, but being a radio and TV broadcaster is what led him on his journey 10 years ago.
During his years as a broadcaster, Towers found himself doing a lot of news stories about sick children, and what they needed or wanted, especially during the holidays. Every time a story aired Towers would be inundated with emails and letters from other families who had similar stories and wishes. It’s this ongoing need that got Towers thinking about what
else he could do to help This is what prompted kids. the launch of Jay’s Juniors.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Jay’s Juniors is a program that treats children with chronic or terminal illnesses and all of their siblings and parents to a magical trip to Walt Disney World at Christmastime.
For many of the kids and their families this is not just a vacation but a respite from the harsh realities of doctors’ visits, treatments, long hospital stays and the dreadful reality of knowing every day is precious.
“There’s so many good things I can say about Jay’s Juniors,” said Melissa Peyerk of Clinton Township.
She and her husband, Josh Thuss, and their children, Kaylee, 17, and Kameron, 5, are among the families who were gifted with a trip to Orlando’s Walt Disney World in December.
“He is such a great man, so kind and so passionate,” Peyerk said. “You can tell he does it out of the goodness of his heart and not to get his name out there.”
Peyerk applied for the trip last fall.
She was encouraged to do so by members of the Hospice team taking care of Kameron, who has suffered from epileptic seizures among other health problems and developmental delays since birth.
“He was born without a part of the brain that connects the left side to the right side,” Peyerk said of her son, who came into the world looking perfectly fine and crying like any other newborn but before his mother could cradle him in her arms, developed problems unlike anything doctors had seen before, anywhere.
“It’s so rare it doesn’t have a name,” Peyerk said, while looking at Kameron, whose thick brown hair was groomed into a stylish spike and while he appeared to be quite comfortable in his special chair, as with many children suffering from chronic conditions, things could change in a matter of seconds putting his life at risk. Knowing every day with Kameron is a gift is one reason Peyerk applied for the trip.
Kameron also loves Mickey Mouse.
“Mickey’s voice is the first voice that he reacted to when he was a baby,” Peyerk said. “He must have a thousand Mickeys in his room.”
After weeks of submitting her story and application for Jay’s Juniors and not hearing anything Peyerk
was sure they were not picked until she got a random call from a 248 area code saying: “Hi Melissa, it’s your old friend Jay Towers.”
Towers said choosing what families go on the trip is a difficult process.
Their committee has to narrow their list down to 125 people including parents and siblings, which is why they never know how many families are going. One family might have two children and another might have five or six.
“It’s brutal,” Towers said, of the difficulty involved in narrowing the list down. “I always tell everybody not to show me pictures.”
Otherwise, he would just say yes to everyone.
That’s not possible considering the logistics behind this mission are enormous, as are the costs, which cover everything from airfare, hotel rooms at Disney resorts, park admission tickets and activations along with food and even spending money for Mickey Mouse hats or anything else the family desires.
In fact they could show up at the airport penniless.
“They took care of everything,” Peyerk said, admitting she didn’t think it would be possible to go considering what she had to do before they could leave but Towers and his team reassured her not to worry and they were right.
“It was amazing,” Peyerk said, not only for her, Josh and Kaylee but Kameron too. “He was awake and happy the whole time. We took him on some rides and he got to see Mickey Mouse.”
“I enjoyed every last bit of it,” added Kaylee, who dotes on her little brother almost as much as her mother and is one of the few people who can watch Kameron when Peyerk needs a break.
There are other charities that grant wishes to sick children but Jay’s Juniors caters to Michiganders and at the end of the trip, Peyerk and the other families not only had memories to last a lifetime but a new circle of friends for support.
“I’m really proud that we’ve been able to do this for this many years and that the program has grown to a reasonable level,” Towers said, the “we” being co-workers at iHeart Media and businesses like Jersey Mike’s Subs, which donates the money for the flights every year.