Every time Kay Jemsek holds her 6-year-old daughter, she reminds herself to cherish the little girl.
“The thought of not being able to hold her again is just too much to take,” Jemsek said.
Jordan Jemsek is fighting for her life. She has leukemia — a type of the disease that usually strikes adults — and needs a bone-marrow transplant.
In Jordan’s room at Presbyterian Hemby Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, N.C., she waits for someone to save her life.
“It’s almost like being in a prison with pink walls and fancy curtains,” Kay Jemsek said. “She can’t even see the sky from where she’s at.”
When Joey McCarthy read about the Jemseks, he knew he had to help.
“I have a 6-year-old at home and a 3-year-old,” said McCarthy, a mechanic for JTG/Daugherty Racing, which fields the No. 47 car driven by former Cup champion Bobby Labonte.
“I see my kids running around at home and see how much fun they have. You do your best to give them everything and then you see Jordan. She doesn’t deserve to be in that position. She should be out running around as well.
“I put myself in their position and said I would really hope if I were in their position that someone would reach out and actually want to help me rather than just reading the story and moving on with their life. I wanted to grasp it and do something -- whether I had to drag each team member down to the hospital one by one.”
McCarthy shared Jordan’s story at the next team meeting. Primary sponsor Reese Towpower agreed to donate space on the rear of the car to promote Jordan’s cause. Her picture, along with a listing for the website www.GetSwabbed.org, will appear there Saturday night in the nationally televised Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The site contains information about becoming a bone-marrow donor (matching donors are identified after having the insides of their cheeks swabbed) and lists bone-marrow donor drives across the country. A drive in Jordan’s honor will be held March 5 at St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Charlotte. Team sponsor Tom’s Snacks, a division of Lance Crackers, is donating money to pay for swabbing of at least 100 people.
When she’s healthy, Jordan Jemsek is part princess, part tomboy.
Put her in a dress and she is every bit the little lady.
But she prefers a game of basketball with the boys to playing on the swing set with the other girls in her class.
At 5, she was fearless — and already fighting off the innocent kisses of fellow schoolmates. Bruises were not unusual, but her mother began to notice that some new ones were different. They didn’t heal as quickly.
When Jordan’s appetite changed, Kay Jemsek sensed something wasn’t right.
“If you knew Jordan, there was never a crumb left on her plate,” Jemsek said. “She was always a good eater. We were used to seeing bruises. We weren’t used to seeing a bad appetite. Her teacher had put her in timeout for not participating, but she couldn’t do anything, She was just so lethargic.”
Cancer is a familiar subject to Kay Jemsek. On Aug. 6, 2009, she lost her mother to ovarian cancer. A month later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Three days after that, she received the news that no parent should.
Jordan had AML (Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia).
“I saw the expression on the doctor’s face and pleaded with him — ‘Don’t tell me,’ ” Jemsek said. “She has the adult form of leukemia. Only 500 kids in the nation usually get that.”
For the next seven months, mother and daughter endured treatment. Kay underwent a lumpectomy, then radiation. Jordan underwent chemotherapy.
“After radiation, I would come back to Jordan’s room and lay down with her,” Jemsek said. “It was hard but it was just perfect to be with her. She wanted to play and I just couldn’t. I was too tired.
“But you get your strength from the Lord. I have a great faith in the Lord. I believe he helps you get through it all.”
It appeared both mother and daughter were in remission until last November. Jordan had a persistent cold that wouldn’t go away. Despite several visits to the oncologist, there was no sign that the cancer had returned until a bone-marrow biopsy told the disheartening story.
“Our lives were just getting back to normal,” Jemsek said. “It just wasn’t fair.”
On Feb. 7, the Monday that begins the two-week period known as Speedweeks, leading up to NASCAR’s season-opening Daytona 500, Labonte and the team’s crew went to the hospital to meet Jordan.
“I remember opening the door and they were all standing there,” Kay Jemsek said. “It was so sweet. They were all in their black shirts holding stuffed bears and bunny rabbits. It was so cool, the sweetest thing. They looked like pro wrestlers and here they were down on their knees talking to her.
“I couldn’t believe that this team reached out to help my little girl. In this world full of crazy people it’s amazing to find someone with a heart of gold that would help this little girl.”
Neither Jemsek nor her daughter was familiar with NASCAR. Kay had to Google Labonte’s name to track down a picture “so I didn’t shake the wrong hand.
“I didn’t know anything about anybody in the sport,” Jemsek said. “But here they are before the biggest race of the year wanting to volunteer, just the nicest people. If that’s any indication of the kindness and goodness of people in the sport, then I’d be a NASCAR fan for life.
For the team, helping Jordan is an opportunity to follow through on something team owner Tad Geschickter had talked about last month: giving back.
“That was just a great time to see her and see other kids in the hospital,” said Labonte, who won NASCAR’s top prize, the Cup championship, in 2000. “It gave us the opportunity to do something we all wanted to do.
“If you can do that every day, you wish you could — that type of feeling. Hopefully, we can raise awareness for them and get her a bone-marrow transplant as soon as possible.”
Not long after he left the hospital, Labonte was tweeting the link for the www.GetSwabbed.org website and sending pictures of Jordan to his more than 20,000 followers on Twitter.
“We’re definitely trying to push that,” Labonte said. “I’m going to call them throughout the weekend and talk to them — keep in touch with them.
“You never know what can happen and what the next day may bring for you. Any time you can do that, I think it’s for a good cause.”
Kay and Jordan Jemsek will be rooting for Labonte and the No. 47 team as they watch the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday. For a few hours, the family can escape the reality of Jordan’s own race against time.
“Watching her is like watching the air escape from a balloon,” Kay Jemsek said. “Right now she’s kind of hit a wall, she wants to go home. She’s always been so fun, so full of joy. She’s not bitter, she’s just a little frustrated because her body won’t do what she wants it to do. She just wants to go home.
“Maybe that’s why I’m here, to teach people. We had such a perfect life and it all came crashing down. Just enjoy your children while you can.”
