KANAS CITY, Mo. — On Friday morning, the family of Jordan Waite will say their final goodbyes at the Highland Park Funeral home in Kansas City, Kansas.
The young man fought a hard battle against cancer and in the final weeks against COVID-19.
Waite had just turned 16 when his world would forever change.
"He had his good days, but he had more bad days than he did good," Jucunda Lorenz, Waite's grandmother said.
His grandmother says doctors diagnosed him in the fall of 2020 with stage four bone cancer.
"What we understood was if you keep doing the radiation and you keep doing the chemo, you know, it's gonna go away, you're gonna feel better, it's gonna get better and it didn't," Lorenz said.
A family friend, Brittany Bartlett, saw Waite's resilient spirit.
"He still stayed positive acted like nothing was wrong," Bartlett said.
Waite's family adjusted as best they could.
"My son had stopped working so that they could make take him to his appointments and make sure that, you know, his needs were taken care of," Lorenz said.
A this time last year the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Missouri and Kansas gave Waite a shopping spree, and "Rides for Hope KC" organized a car show and parade for him.
"He got to get in the cars and all that, he got to ride in a limo with his brothers," Bartlett said.
But this past fall, Waite's health took a turn for the worse. He eventually contracted COVID-19 despite being vaccinated.
As he struggled to breathe his grandmother says doctors told his family intubation wouldn’t help.
"His lungs had filled up with the COVID. So that wasn't even an option," Lorenz said.
Waite passed away last Saturday. He was 17.
"His mom, she’s in pieces right now. And his dad, he's, he's trying to be strong, but you can see it, you can see the hurt and the pain," Lorenz said.
The family has established a GoFundMe page to help with Waite's funeral and other costs.
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