Jacob Goeders, the Leukemia Slayer, may have conquered cancer and moved clear across the country this year, but he’s not about to let go of his beloved annual Santa Slayer Project he started four years ago to buy Christmas gifts for other kids fighting the disease.
Jacob, 13, announced to Facebook fans on Tuesday, Nov. 18, that he’s repeating the Santa Slayer Project, asking for only $1 from each of his more than 10,500 fans. The money will go to buy gifts for children at Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH) in Palo Alto, as well as on the oncology ward at the Duke University Medical Center and the Ronald McDonald House, in Durham, North Carolina. Jacob’s family moved to the southern state from Mountain View earlier this year.
Jacob and his family announced in March of this year that he had won his battle with Leukemia, which started with a diagnosis in December, 2010. As Christmas 2011 approached, Jacob remembered how difficult it was to be in the cancer ward around Christmastime. He asked his then approximately 2,000 fans on Facebook if they would chip in $1 each so he could buy gifts for the children, even though he himself was fighting Leukemia. He raised more than $2,o00, and the annual Santa Slayer Project was born.
One of Jacob’s fans here in the San Francisco Bay Area, Grace Fanelli Howell, is helping coordinate buying and distributing gifts at LPCH.
“I was feeing sad that I would not be at LPCH this year to continue my Santa Slayer tradition, but one of my good friends, Grace, who has helped me with lots of other projects over the years has offered to continue Santa Slayer in my name for the kids at LPCH!” Jacob told his Facebook fans. “So I guess this means the Santa Slayer project has expanded to both coasts!”
To donate, see the Facebook event page. Donations are being accepted through Dec. 12.
