SEATTLE — One of the most lasting and profound impacts of the World Cup in Seattle may have nothing to do with soccer at all. You may have seen it, but probably not quite understood it.
The monorail columns downtown have the flags of competing teams painted on them. Among them, one is especially unique. It looks like an abstract piece of art.
But what it represents is not abstract - it is heart-achingly real.
It’s the work of a young artist named Jaxon Lentz who somehow captured so much of his life in one drawing.
Right out of the gates 14 years ago, Jaxon had a smile that would melt any heart. His parents knew it reflected a special soul.
“From the moment he was born, I just knew he was special, and that he was going to change our lives,” said Danielle Lentz. Danielle is a professional photographer. Her boy is a constant subject. You can see in her pictures that throughout the years, Jaxon always led with a smile.
Danielle and her husband Kris’s firstborn had joy to spare, and he did, for anyone who needed it. Every room he entered became a gathering of friends.
“He would always say I made a new friend, a best friend today,” said Kris.
So, when their permanently upbeat boy started complaining about pain under his arm, Danielle knew she should mention it to Jaxon’s doctor. The doctor ordered an X-ray.
Danielle said before she even got home, she got a call from the doctor.
“She said, ‘You need to go get a CT scan. We found something that needs to be investigated further.’”
The investigation discovered Ewing sarcoma – a very aggressive cancer in or around the bones, most frequently diagnosed in children and teenagers.
“From that moment in our lives, we were never the same,” said Danielle.
Their lives were turned upside down. But not Jaxon’s smile. He was upbeat. He was determined. He was a cheerful warrior.
He fought for himself, embracing the treatment. He knew he could beat it. He wanted others to also. He threw himself into things like car washes that were fundraisers for cancer research.
His hair disappeared. His smile did not. But it did change.
“You can see that some of that sparkle, some of that shine was dulled down a bit,” Kris explained.
Aggressive chemo and radiation will do that - especially nine months of it. Some of the spark returned with the children’s hospital art therapy program. He expressed his battle through pictures of superheroes, soldiers, and sci-fi characters who all, like him, were fiercely fighting. It was his way to escape.
Then the escape became real. He went into remission.
He rang the bell at Seattle Children’s Hospital. His family and medical team celebrated. But Danielle remembers a warning from one of Jaxon’s doctors.
“He said, ‘Getting him to remission won’t be the problem. It’s keeping him there,’” she shared.
Jaxon wasn’t worried. He was too busy: playing basketball, skiing, playing with friends, and always, always smiling.
His joy was still there. And eventually his hair was too. It grew back.
But less than a year later, so did the cancer.
Danielle said Jaxon became the happy warrior again.
“He said, he’s like, ‘Cancer may come for me, but I will keep fighting it.’”
Their happy warrior got used to fighting, He didn’t have a choice. Another remission. But also, another relapse.
Seattle Children’s Hospital art therapist Michael Willen saw Jaxon’s brave battle.
He told Jaxon why the world should too, saying, “Because you have a really big journey to talk about. You’ve had so many things happen, and you’ve seen so much, and you know so much.”
He asked Jaxon to create a piece for an art show at the hospital called “Medical Journeys.”
Jaxon drew a self-portrait, showing two sides of his life, in concert but also in conflict.
On the left half of his portrait, you see sports and video games surrounding him. He has full hair and his trademark huge smile. But on the right half of the drawing, he’s surrounded by the confusion that comes with “Chemo Brain,” the signs of toxic treatment, and that part of his head is bald. The smile is still there, but it has dimmed.
The piece shows the artist was strong enough to show his virtue and his vulnerability.
It got a prominent place in the art show.
Jaxon saw it hanging on the hospital wall on August 15 last year.
One month later, he was gone.
But now, positioned in the middle of the World Cup celebrations in Seattle, we can bear witness to the battle we did not see ourselves.
On the monorail column on 5th and Stewart, Jaxon’s drawing is part of the art legacy project the FIFA local organizing committee installed for the tournament.
“The only question was where can we put this so the most people see it,” said Leo Flor, Chief Legacy Officer.
“That was the last thing that he touched, that he created,” shared Danielle. “It’s so deeply meaningful to us now.”
They hope it is also meaningful to the other families fighting similar battles, and to other people who may want to show their support. Jaxon’s 14th birthday would have been next week. They’re encouraging anyone who would like to celebrate his life to donate art materials to Seattle Children’s Hospital through this link.
It will be in the name of their cheerful warrior, Jaxon Lentz.