For the Cobb family, “can” is short for cancer. But it also means the family can accomplish their mission to raise awareness and money for childhood cancer. Father Jonathan, mother Jennifer, son Jonathan David, and daughters Jenna and Jaxi are walking across America for their Jucan Foundation. Thursday morning they were guests at Community Christian School in Orange and told their story. On October 29, 2013, 8-year-old Julia Cobb died from a rare bone cancer. Her family called her “Ju” and added the “can” to her name for the cancer. This past November the family left Disneyland in California to make a trek across the country. They plan to arrive in Disney World in Florida on March 17, which would have been Julia’s 10th birthday. Mother Jennifer told the Community students that they hope to make September the month for childhood cancer awareness with the color gold. The Cobbs said only 4 percent of money raised in the U.S. to fight cancer goes for childhood cancer. Julia went to M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, two of the best medical facilities in the country. Yet the drugs she received were from the 1960s and 1970s because the FDA has a back-up for approving new drugs to treat pediatric cancer. Donations to the foundation can be made through the website jucanfoundation.org.
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