'BIG HEART FOR... THE UNDERDOG'
Small-town 11-year-old raises thousands for children’s care
With barely 300 people in town, one child has not let his small-town roots stop him from making a difference in the lives of children with cancer. During the last school year Jax Sealey, 11, from Butler, raised $13,008 for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospitals.
“I have the heart for children with diseases like cancer or really bad sicknesses,” Sealey said.
Now he already is collecting for another year of success with two goals: double the amount raised and receive a donation from every state. He already has raised $1,800 in less than a month’s time.
Collecting cans and donations requires the help of Jara Parker, Sealey’s mother, who spends hours every week driving him across western Oklahoma collecting items.
“I told him I will provide the trash bags and the transportation,” Parker said. “I said you can collect all you want. … I had no idea he was going to go this far with it.”
It all started several years ago when he raised his first $100 during the Bike-a-Thon at the Arapaho-Butler elementary school, and he has continually doubled it. But, the fundraiser was only two weeks.
“We only get two weeks out of the year, and I said, ‘Mom why do we get two weeks when kids are sick more than two weeks,’” Sealey said.
“I go door to door asking for donations and collecting cans,” he said.
Anywhere Sealey goes he asks for a donation, even collecting money at his doctor’s office when he was sick.
“As a mom, I see one side, but I have also watched him when he thinks I am not watching him, and he just talks his talk,” Parker said.
Along with collecting cans, he has started making drink coasters and selling them as a way to make additional money.
“He just kept coming up with ideas and ideas,” Parker said. But, she makes sure that chores and other things are always done first.
“I think his self-confidence has been boosted a lot this last year,” she said.
The motivation behind his mission comes from many stories in his life, but after a friend from Hammon died because of childhood cancer he became even more passionate.
“I know I won’t save kids, but I am trying to find cures for all of the cancers,” Sealey said. “I like St. Jude, and I like to raise money for it.”
For Sealey he was born premature and has to wear special glasses with a red tint to help with color correction of his vision, which his mom said makes him more compassionate.
“He has just always a big heart for everybody who is the underdog,” Parker said.
While he has never been inside a St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, he hopes to when he turns 16 and see the people he has helped.
“One night we were laying down and he goes, ‘Mom what if it were me, would another kid raise this money to help me if I was sick?’” Parker said.