Max Joy Update - December of 2024

With Christmas right around the corner, we want to take the opportunity to thank you all for your generous donations to Max Joy and let you know what we have been up to this holiday season. I want to start with a story to tell you all what your donations have made possible in the lives of others.

We adopted a family for the holiday season, a mom and her four daughters. They had been homeless for a few months, so the gifts on their wishlist were incredibly basic—socks, underwear, winter boots, etc. In addition, the mom has recently worked very hard to get an apartment, so they asked for a bunk bed and small kitchen table. Because of our family members who were able to get amazing deals on Black Friday, we were able to get them everything on their wishlist and more, even down to mattresses and bedding for their bunk beds.

I went with the social workers to drop off the gifts, and I had the pleasure of meeting the mom. When she saw the gifts being rolled into her apartment, she broke down sobbing and told me how much it meant to her, explaining that her children had never in their lives had a Christmas like this. I told her about Max, the foundation we started in his honor, and how all these gifts were donated by our friends and family. She was so sorry about Max, and we just hugged. For that moment, we were just two moms that had been dealt some really awful hands, hugging in a hallway. The joy and relief that Max Joy brought her moved me to my own tears, knowing that our son had impacted her family in such a positive way.

I tell you this story because you all made that happen for this family. Max Joy would not be possible without you. We had friends and family who helped shop for the family, wrap gifts, and get the family things that would bring the family joy, above and beyond their needs. And the rest of you donated to make it all possible.

Additionally, like last year, we donated toys to the American Family Children’s Hospital. They have an annual toy drive for children who will spend their Christmas in a hospital bed instead of with their families. They also have an ongoing wishlist for toys the child life specialists use to distract children going through difficult treatments throughout the year, and we were able to make a generous donation to this program, pictured below.

The holidays are an incredibly difficult time for our family. What we wouldn’t give to have Max with us on Christmas, opening gifts excitedly with his sisters. But we hope you all know how much being able to do this in his name means to us. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

-Andy, Laura, Harper & Tess

Max Joy Update - November 2024

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s time for another Max Joy update to let you know what Max has been up to! Since our last update, we have learned of many families and individuals going through difficult times, and it has made our hearts happy to know that Max has played a part in lifting their spirits, even if just for a moment. Since Max’s passing, Max Joy has brought joy to over 150 individuals and their families, totaling close to $30,000 in support and experiences. Max Joy plans on delivering an additional $50,000 to people who need it in 2025.

We want to offer a note of gratitude to all of you for helping us make this promise to Max come true. Without your support, none of this would be possible. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you know of someone who could use some Max Joy.

Your generous donations have helped with the following since our last update:

• We met Jenni a long time ago through our dear family friends, and it was with the saddest of hearts that we learned she was entering hospice care after a long battle with ovarian cancer. Jenni was a spark to all those around her--funny, upbeat, and emanating a warmth that made you feel like you had known her for years. In her final days, we wanted to bring her the joy of small comforts, so we sent her a gift basket filled with candles, nice chocolates, cozy socks, hot tea, bath salts, and other little things she could treat herself to. We know that Jenni is one of the angels we have looking out for Max in heaven…she shared, before she entered heaven herself, that she would find him for us.

• A friend of ours was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer a year and a half ago. After a double mastectomy, she still had to endure chemotherapy and radiation. She was dreading having to be sick all summer while her two young boys were at home with her. To add a little excitement to their summer routine, Max Joy gifted them a basketball splash pad to entertain the boys while their mom recovered.

• An individual fighting pancreatic cancer, who was unable to work and with limited support, was gifted gas cards and food gift cards.  The gratitude expressed for something that might seem so basic was beyond anything we expected. The same was done for a young woman with two children who was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  Unable to work, and needing support for her children as well, Max stepped up with giftcards to help support the basics. These everyday things we tend to take for granted mean the world to people going through unthinkable situations.

• A donation toward an electric bike was made for a teen who was going through a really difficult time with his mental health. Life has not been easy for this high schooler, and we wanted to do something to bring him a little happiness. His family had been saving to get him an electric bike, so MaxJoy made a contribution toward the cost of the bike. Hopefully he sees how much the world cares about him.

• An Uber giftcard sent to a family whose baby came into the world in a traumatic way; the cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck, causing him to have seizures after birth. The baby was admitted to the NICU for over a week while the doctors monitored him to make sure he was okay. While the parents were in the NICU, we sent them an Uber gift card so they could have the weight of meals off their back and take rides back and forth from the hospital. Thankfully, the baby is doing well, and we were happy to help out in a small way.

• We sent Target and gas gift cards to a family who had just lost their little boy, Axel. Axel was just three years old when he was diagnosed with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. He gave cancer a tough fight for 16 months, including multiple rounds of chemo, radiation, and surgery. He is survived by his family who loved him so much, including his two older brothers. Axel’s mom took multiple months of unpaid time away from work to care for Axel, and she looks forward to using the support from MaxJoy to take Axel’s brothers on a road trip to the places left on Axel’s bucket list that they never had a chance to go before the cancer spread. 

• During back-to-school time, we sent a grocery and target gift card to a single mom who was out of work. Despite always having several jobs to keep her family afloat, the time off of work was so difficult on their family. Max Joy gave this mother a gift card for groceries and to buy her kids back-to-school supplies, something all children should have the joy of getting to purchase.

• We heard from a friend who shared the devastating loss of their neighbor, 11-year-old Owen. This blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy battled luekemia, just like Max. In his caring bridge update, his parents wrote, “His boundless curiosity and kind-hearted spirit were a beacon of light in our lives,” and this reminded us so much of Max. Owen was survived by younger sister, Claire, who was heartbroken about the death of her brother. Max Joy treated their family to a night at the Great Wolf Lodge water park to celebrate her birthday and to bring Claire a much needed night of happiness. 

• Max sent some meals from A Spoonful of Comfort to someone being treated for pancreatic cancer. We had been gifted these meals while Max was in the hospital from our friend Maura, and the simple gesture of comfort food in a time we needed it most made all the difference. We hope it lifted this person’s spirits just a little--they deserve to know how loved they are.

• A young father and his twin boys who just lost their wife and mother to a ten-year battle with cancer were treated to a weekend at the Kalahari. We know firsthand the effects a family death leaves on children, so we wanted to send them away for a joy-filled weekend at the waterpark for a little distraction.

• A preschool educator in Brooklyn lost everything she and her family owned in an apartment fire. Max Joy sent her family gift card to Target to get back on their feet. She shared the joy she felt that she could go out and buy the things they needed most. The last thing someone reeling from a devastating loss of a home should have to deal with is submitting receipts to the insurance company for a toothbrush. The same was later done for her neighbor who also lost everything she and her family had. We hope Max Joy helped them see they are cared about all the way across the country.  

• A little boy was born prematurely and forced to have several operations in the first few days of being alive.  Max Joy bought giftcards for restaurants and gas to help free the family of any worries on costs of eating and getting to and from the hospital.  In addition, Max bought a few toys and games for the baby’s big sister to distract her a bit while her family spent much of their time with her new little brother.

All our love, respect and admiration,

-Andy, Laura, Harper & Tess

Max Joy Update - May 2024

Dear Family and Friends,

Since our last update, Max has been spreading acts of joy to others in various ways. These acts of service to others have been crucial to helping us grieve our little boy, as the one-year anniversary of Max’s death is today, May 17th. 

In the last year, we have received generous donations from countless family and friends--even some people we do not know. This has helped us fulfill a promise we made to Max in his last moments: The world is going to know who you are, Max Roeker. In the next year, we want to make even more impactful donations to even more people. 

Here are some of the ways we’ve been spreading joy since our last update:

At the holidays, we donated meals to over 50 families in need. They were able to enjoy a warm meal together with their loved ones, something every person should get to experience during the season of joy.

We donated a power wheel for a little girl named Liv and her little brother, Liam. Liv is battling Sanfilippo Syndrome, a rare genetic degenerative brain disorder. The disease, as her parents Erin and Tyler put it, is “the worst disease you’ve probably never heard of. It’s like Alzheimer's, but in children. It is 100% fatal.” The disease will take over Liv’s ability to speak, walk, and develop typically. The power wheel Liv and Liam’s parents chose has a remote that they can use to control the vehicle. This way, even if Liv cannot steer or push the gas on her own, she still feels the joy of driving on her own. If you are interested in learning more about Olivia and her disease, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/pvzfz-saving-liv. 

We donated meal gift cards to a 17-year-old girl battling B-Cell ALL leukemia, the same cancer Max had. The gift cards we received to grab a quick lunch or to provide Max with something other than hospital food while we were admitted were wonderful, so we knew they would be helpful to a teen in the same position. The cards were received with great gratitude.

In February, we learned of a little one-year-old boy who was undergoing open heart surgery to fix a hole in his heart that had been there since he was born. Max Joy provided gift cards to help ease some of the meal burden for his family while he was in surgery and recovery. Around the same time, we learned of a 32-year-old mom of three young children who found out she had neuroendocrine cancer in her pancreas and liver. As she is receiving treatment at Mayo Clinic away from her young family, Max Joy purchased gas gift cards for the commute and a Marriott gift card so her family can stay near her as she receives treatment. 

In late April, we were told about a young man who is 20 and has osteosarcoma. He first got it in 2020 and beat it, but it came back. He is looking for clinical trials and different combinations of chemo and other drugs to hopefully buy him more time. On a recent family trip, Max Joy picked him and his family up in a limo and drove them to Top Golf. Afterward, they went to a flight simulator where he got a chance to fly the plane. For that night, he and his family weren’t in the throes of sadness; instead, they got to experience a fun night out together doing something that he loved.

Recently, Max Joy connected with a family whose 10-year-old is fighting relapsed anaplastic Ependymoma. He’s had four brain surgeries and has undergone 60 rounds of radiation, the last 30 to his full brain and spine. Their family loves to watch and play sports, but since his surgeries, his reaction time and hand-eye coordination have slowed. The family has been having fun learning to golf as a sport they can enjoy together, including his younger brother and sister. Max Joy sponsored a round of golf at Luxe Golf Bays so they could enjoy a night of family fun together.

And finally, we will leave you with the words of someone who has received some of your generous donations to Max Joy. We donated a Walmart gift card to a woman whose husband is battling Stage 4 Renal Cell Carcinoma. After learning that what they thought was a pulled chest muscle was actually cancer, this family’s life turned upside down. The wife took on full-time care responsibilities for her husband and their two children, but also has to work full time to support their family. When she received the gift card to help them offset costs for the month, she wrote, “Asking for help…it feels awkward. I feel guilty. Not until someone helps me do I realize how good that actually feels. Kindness helps because it shows people care. If only for a few minutes, there is a relief feeling that runs through me. When I opened the gift card from you to Walmart, I was ovewhelmed…there are not enough words to say thank you. I wanted to tell you my story so you could hopefully hear how your kindness for someone you don’t even know leaves me with hope…and, oh yeah, I almost forgot--JOY, I felt joy, which I haven’t felt in a long time. And these feelings all happened to me because of Max. THAT is something really special.”

P.S. If you come across someone in life--anyone--who is in need of some joy, please let us know. Max is waiting with a smile on his face.

-Andy, Laura, Harper & Tess

Max Joy Update – December 2023

Dear family and friends,

The outpouring of support and generosity towards Max Joy has been nothing short of extraordinary. Your contributions have not only lifted our spirits but have allowed us to extend Max's legacy of joy to those facing their own struggles.

With your support, we've been able to take meaningful actions that resonate deeply with our mission to spread joy and goodness. Your support has enabled us to sponsor a cleaning service for several months for a courageous single mother who is facing her own battle with cancer.  Max Joy has provided her with a sense of relief during such a challenging time, allowing her to focus on her health and her family. 

A father battling metastatic melanoma is currently in a wheelchair because his cancer has spread to the point that he is not mobile. Thanks to generous donations to Max Joy, we are providing their family with a snow removal service to get through the winter and take one crucial thing off their plate.

A little girl in Mequon, who, like Max, is battling leukemia, felt Max’s love by receiving a bounce house to help aid her physical therapy and give her something to do when she can’t be exposed to germs this winter.

Another precious little girl in Green Bay fighting a similar battle to Max has received the gift of a Big Wheels jeep, providing her with moments of happiness amidst her courageous fight.  Having experienced firsthand how these small, yet meaningful, distractions can uplift spirits, we're honored to bring these moments to other people.

Lastly, we wanted to give back to the American Family Children's Hospital Pediatric Care Unit in Madison, the place where Max received his care. The Child Life Specialists at AFCH try to make the hospital a more tolerable place for children to be, and we have partnered with them to identify how we can support them during the holiday season. Max Joy has purchased books, games, arts, crafts, and toys to brighten the holidays for the young warriors fighting there (pictured below).

Your unwavering support has allowed us to turn our grief into action. Before he died, we told Max that the world would know who he was, and you are helping us bring this promise to fruition. We cannot express enough gratitude for your generosity in honoring Max's memory. Together, we are putting good into the world, just like our sweet Max.  We promise you, and Max--this is only the beginning.

-Andy, Laura, Harper & Tess