Richland boy with Crohn’s disease raises awareness, money, spirits

Jazz Little is a remarkable kid in more ways than one.

When he was 3 years old, he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract.

Crohn’s affects as many as 700,000 Americans, but it’s rare in kids so young.

Jazz endured hospital stays, even chemotherapy. At one point, it seemed he might not make it.

But he pulled through. And the 8-year-old Richland boy sees a purpose in the pain he suffered.

“I told my mom that God meant for me to have Crohn’s so I could help other kids and people,” Jazz said.

Jazz and his family now work with the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America.

They plan a fundraiser for the foundation Oct. 20 at Uncle Sam’s Saloon in Kennewick. Participants buy a cup for $10 and can fill it with domestic beers for $1 or microbrews for $2; they also get a raffle ticket, with drawings held throughout the night.

Jazz and his mother, Jennifer, also participate every year in the Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon to raise money and awareness. Jazz joins his mom for the last mile.

The event is next month.

Jennifer and her husband, Jona, were on their first no-kids vacation in 2011 when Jazz became sick.

They were living in Las Vegas, and flew home to the Tri-Cities as a birthday surprise for Jennifer’s mom.

They got a call from Jennifer’s sister, who was watching Jazz and his older brother Jade, now 20, and younger brother Jaxon, now 7.

Jazz was complaining of serious leg pain.

“I thought, guilt-wise, that maybe it was because I’d left him for the first time and he wanted me to come home,” Jennifer told the Herald.

But pain in his arm followed. Then blood when he went to the bathroom.

Tests followed, and the diagnosis came.

Jazz spent a lot of time in the hospital. At one point, he was so sick he couldn’t eat and could hardly lift his head.

He remembers being stuck in bed.

He didn’t like it.

“I felt like I don’t want to be in the hospital anymore. I felt like I wanted to get out of bed and just go on those bikes that were there,” he said. “I’m also really glad I don’t have the IV in me anymore.”

Jazz did like his doctors and nurses, and he would check on them as they cared for him.

“(He would ask), ‘Have you eaten? You look tired,’ ” Jennifer Little recalled. “He was always looking out for everybody else. His concern was taking care of everybody.”

Jazz and his family moved back to the Tri-Cities about three years ago. A third-grader at White Bluffs Elementary School, Jazz is doing well.

He likes school. He plays sports, though he has to take it a bit easy. He takes medication and sticks to a strict diet, and now appears to be in remission.

Because of its symptoms, Crohn’s is something of a silent disease — one that can be embarrassing and hard to talk about.

But Jazz is brave. Remarkable.

The family’s activism “is a matter of encouragement, that there’s light at the end of the tunnel,” Jennifer Little said. “If somebody as little as him can battle it the way he has and come as close to death as he has and still push through with a positive attitude — we’ve gotten a lot of great response from people feeling inspired, feeling that, ‘If he can do it, I can do it.’ ”

Asked if he had a message to share, Jazz thought for a moment and then got up to clear his head.

After a short walk, he knew what he wanted to say:

“If you have a disease like mine, keep fighting. Don’t ever give up.”

The fundraiser is from 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 20 at Uncle Sam’s Saloon, 8378 W. Gage Blvd.

This story was originally published October 18, 2015 at 8:09 PM with the headline "Richland boy with Crohn’s disease raises awareness, money, spirits."