Jack Purcell

When he was five months old, Jack Purcell’s parents took him to his pediatrician on Christmas Eve to seek treatment for a bloated stomach. Thinking that his stomach was distended due to gas, his parents were shocked when an X-ray discovered a rare kidney tumor called Cellular Congenital Mesoblastic Nephroma.

Jack was sent to Kaiser Sunset and surgery was quickly scheduled. While the seven-inch, two-and-a-half-pound tumor was being surgically removed, it ruptured. This called for 14 rounds of chemo over a four-month period, which Jack bravely endured, smiling throughout.

He is now eight and a half years old and has been cancer-free for seven years!

Jack loves sloppy joes, Disneyland and Superman, and is enjoying third grade. Jack’s Reaching for the Cure Team, “Team Super Jack,” is always an active fundraiser for pediatric research so that kids can receive even better treatments and realize happy, healthy futures just like him.