The Fox C-6 School District is rallying around a Seckman High School freshman who was diagnosed with cancer before he was even 3 years old.
The Seckman High Letterman’s Club is holding a shoe drive to raise money for the family of Jaxon Menner, 15. The shoes will go to an organization called Funds2Orgs, which pays collecting organizations for gently used or new shoes.
The drive, called “Miles for Menner,” started Jan. 12, but it kicked into high gear Jan. 16 during Seckman High’s winter sports assembly.
Near the end of the assembly, Seckman High business education teacher Becky Alden challenged students to take part in the second phase of the drive and collect shoes to be piled in front of the school on Jan. 28.
“You have 12 days to line that front door and be part of Jax’s journey,” said Alden, who, along with physical education teacher Zach Taylor, sponsors the Letterman’s Club. “We want to walk with Jax.”
Jaxon and 25 members of his family attended the assembly, and 227 students and staff members brought in boxes and bags filled with shoes that already had been collected at other district schools, area homeowner associations and businesses.
“It was kind of overwhelming with all of the people,” said Jaxon, who lives with his mother, Danielle, in House Springs and his father, Ryan, in Imperial. “It was great that they have decided to do all of this for me.”
In addition to Seckman High and nine other Fox C-6 schools, Alden said nine homeowner associations and 19 businesses and organizations in Jefferson County and Oakville are holding collections.
The “Miles for Menner” shoe drive will be held through Feb. 25.
“I feel like it can get huge,” said Seckman High junior Tessa Rebsamen, 16, of Imperial, a Lettermen’s Club member. “The dance studio (Studio C in Arnold) I go to has a collection box. There are collection boxes all across our town. I feel this can get really big and help the Menner family out.”
After the shoes are sent to Funds2Orgs, the organization refurbishes them and sends them to micro-enterprises in developing countries to provide them with inventory to sell and make a living wage for themselves and their families. Micro-enterprises are small businesses that typically start with low investment capital, according to Funds2Orgs’ website, funds2orgs.com.
Alden said groups may earn up to 50 cents per pound for the shoes, depending on how much is collected. The Fund2Orgs website says the company has paid more than $19 million to its fundraising partners.
“This will help us out if I have to take leave from work as well as medical bills and other expenses,” said Danielle, a second-grade teacher at Clyde Hamrick Elementary School in the Fox district.
A GoFundMe page called “Jax’s Journey of Strength and Light” was created on Jan. 1 and had raised $26,121 for the family as of Jan. 16.
Jax’s journey
Danielle, 46, said Jaxon was diagnosed with Pre B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia on July 8, 2013, after he had been camping with his grandparents and his gums started to bleed.
“It was kind of shocking,” Danielle said. “We didn’t have a whole lot of symptoms.”
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow and is the most common form of pediatric cancer. ALL affects white blood cells called lymphocytes, which fight infection and help protect the body against disease, according to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s website, together.stjude.org.
Danielle said Jaxon received chemotherapy and steroids after being diagnosed, and the cancer went into remission in September 2016. However, he relapsed in April 2018 and was treated with chemotherapy, steroids and CAR T-cell therapy – a personalized form of immunotherapy that trains someone’s immune cells to recognize and destroy cancer, according to cancer.org.
“He was the first child in St. Louis to receive CAR T-cell,” Danielle said. “It worked for about three years. He relapsed again. Each time we have tried CAR T-cell it has been less effective.”
Danielle said after the relapse in November 2021, Jaxon underwent a bone marrow transplant in February 2022.
“It worked for about a year,” Danielle said. “On the one-year lab, we found the cancer returning.”
Danielle said doctors at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have told the family they have exhausted treatment options and now can only slow down the cancer with steroids and chemotherapy.
She said Jaxon and the family decided to stop the steroids and chemotherapy treatments because of how those treatments make her son feel. Jaxon has started seeing a chiropractor who provides holistic treatments, and her son continues to take medication prescribed by doctors.
Jaxon said he takes everything one day at time, and he has two pieces of advice for someone battling cancer.
“Just think positive and take it slow,” he said.
Members of Seckman High School’s boys and girls wrestling teams compete in a box-stacking competition during an assembly on Jan. 16 honoring their classmate, Jaxon Menner, who is battling leukemia.
Rallying
The assembly was the first time Jaxon had been at Seckman High during the school day this school year. He has learned primarily from home since middle school, Danielle said.
“He has a regular freshman schedule,” said Alden, who previously taught Jaxon when he attended Antonia Middle School. “He just hasn’t been healthy enough to physically be here.”
Alden said her history with Jaxon and his family started during her first stint as a teacher at Seckman High when she taught his father, Ryan, who also attended the Jan. 16 assembly.
The Menner family helped create and grow Seckman High’s wrestling program, Alden said.
Ryan medaled at state in 2003 in the 275-pound weight class.
“For me, with having his dad and Jax in class, I knew this had to happen,” she said of starting the shoe drive.
Seckman High junior and Lettermen Club member Owen Howell, 16, of Imperial said he thought Alden’s idea to hold a shoe drive for the family was great.
“It is vastly important,” he said. “I have gotten 21 pairs of shoes from where I work (Starbucks in Arnold). Anyone who can participate should.”
Rebsamen said she had never met Jaxon before the Jan. 16 assembly.
“When I saw him today, it was amazing to meet someone who is so strong and battling so much,” she said. “It was amazing to see his family here supporting him.”
Alden said when she started reaching out to other Fox C-6 staff members about the shoe drive, they immediately started collecting shoes, adding that it didn’t take long for the collection to extend beyond district schools.
“I have neighborhoods reaching out to me,” she said. “We have communities outside of our own, the city of Festus has five churches donating. I come home from work and there are bags of shoes on my front porch. I don’t even know where they are coming from.
“I can only imagine if we get the word out what we can do for this family.”
Danielle said she is not surprised the shoe drive has gained so much support.
“It is a huge family in the district,” she said. “They come together. It has definitely been amazing.”
Miles for Menner
Drop off locations for shoe drive to support Seckman High School freshman Jaxon Menner and his family. Jaxon was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 2 years old.
Fox C-6 schools
■ Seckman Elementary School, 2824 Seckman Road, Imperial
■ Seckman Middle School, 2840 Seckman Road, Imperial
■ Seckman High School, 2800 Seckman Road, Imperial
■ Antonia Middle School, 6798 St. Lukes Church Road, Barnhart
■ Hodge Elementary, 2499 Prairie Hollow Road, Imperial
■ Fox Elementary School, 739 Jeffco Blvd., Arnold
■ Fox Middle School, 743 Jeffco Blvd., Arnold
■ Clyde Hamrick Elementary, 4525 E. Four Ridge Road, Imperial
■ Simpson Elementary, 3585 Vogel Road, Arnold
■ Meramec Heights Elementary School, 1340 W. Outer 21 Road, Arnold area
Subdivisions
■ Amberleigh Woods, Amberleigh Meadows Drive, Imperial
■ Huntington Glen, Imperial
■ Foxfire Ridge , Barnhart
■ Vanguard Crossing Apartments, 8342 Delcrest Drive, St. Louis County
■ Tamarack, Arnold
■ Pine View Acres, House Springs
■ Estates at Moss Hollow, Imperial
■ Seckman Road Association, Imperial
■ The Bluffs at Romaine, Fenton
Businesses and organizations
■ Antonia Fire Protection District, 6633 Moss Hollow Road, Barnhart
■ Star Cafe, 2868 Seckman Road, Imperial
■ Trattoria Giuseppe, 5442 Old Hwy 21, Otto
■ Oakville Dental Care, 6076 Telegraph Road, St. Louis County
■ Arnolds Elks Lodge, 1515 Miller Road, Imperial
■ Orange Theory, 528 Old Smizer Road, Fenton
■ Twisted Scissors Salon, 3899 Vogel Road, Arnold
■ Moortell Sports Pub, 120 Main St., Pevely
■ Twin City Church of Christ, 11780 County Road CC, Festus
■ Dollar General, 7030 Hwy. 61-67, Barnhart
■ Good Vibes Barbershop, 1370 B Jeffco Blvd., Arnold
■ Encounter Church, 1930 Meyer Drury Drive, Suite A, Arnold
■ Oakville Pet Grooming, 24 Village Plaza, Arnold
■ The Healthy Shopper, 139 Concord Plaza Shopping Center, St. Louis County
■ Shanks Realty, 2855 Seckman Road, Imperial
■ Century Credit Union, 1540 Lemay Ferry Road, St. Louis County
■ Century Credit Union, 3920 Jeffco Blvd, Arnold
■ Valley View Daycare, 2010 Seckman Road, Imperial
■ Concord Church, 13775 Tesson Ferry Road, St. Louis County