Remember Me

“Can I sell this on eBay?” Jaevin, my then five-year-old son, asked me last April. He held a crayon masterpiece in his hands.
“Sure,” I answered. So cute and sweet, I thought. “What are you going to do with all the money?” I imagined him having a goal of being able to buy a mass supply of candy and a lava lamp he desperately wanted.
“I’m going to give it to the scientists so they can fix great-Nanny’s brain so she will always remember me,” he told me as though it were obvious.
My heart jolted and my eyes watered uncontrollably. I looked more intensely at his picture as he described it to me.
“That’s me with Great-Nanny and I am picking a sunflower for her. There’s a colorful rainbow all around us. I just need you to help me spell “remember”, Mommy. I am going to print “remember me” on it so she knows it’s me.”
I was blown away by Jaevin’s compassion and desire to do something so wonderful to help his “great-Nanny”- my grandmother. She has been struggling with Alzheimer’s disease for several years.
Jaevin was concerned about his great-Nanny’s strange behavior and questioned why she sometimes didn’t know who he was or remember what she was doing. We explained that Alzheimer’s was a disease affecting Nanny’s brain and her ability to remember. We also told him that there were special people working on finding a cure for Alzheimer’s, and that research was expensive.
Each summer our family spends a lot of time with my grandparents at the cottage in Fenelon Falls. At moments my grandmother seems like an innocent, child-like girl; a perfect companion for Jaevin. They laugh and watch the ducks and look at her gardens, but he is always protecting her.
This past summer when we were visiting, a man came up to the cottage. My grandmother looked at me and Jaevin and said, “I may not know who I am all the time, but I know that is Jeffrey!” (I hadn’t even recognized him; and it was one of my own relatives.)
Jaevin walked over to the lawn chair she was sitting on, softly caressed her cheek, and said, “I will always remind you that you’re great-Nanny.”
Looking at his beautiful picture I was overwhelmed by his simple gesture of love and desire to help his great-Nanny. I thought we had helped Jaevin cope with Nanny’s disease by explaining it and providing him with the facts he needed, but he had been processing the information for months trying to find a solution. He simply did not want his great-Nanny to forget him- Ever.
Jaevin had heard me talk frequently about making money on eBay, an on-line auction site that allows people to sell and buy items from around the world. I felt somewhat embarrassed that it was a child’s unwavering optimism and innocence that pointed out the potential of raising money on eBay.
I put his picture up on eBay for him with an opening bid of 99 cents, knowing that my husband and I would be the winning bidders, but wanting to encourage his compassion and help fulfill his dream.
However, my husband and I were not the lucky winners of the auction.
Jaevin was interviewed by local newspapers and his auction was covered on national television. He became a mini-celebrity during his week-long auction, and quite a bit of attention was focused on him and his picture. During all the craziness and excitement, he maintained his innocence and truly didn’t understand why everyone was so interested in him and his drawing. He had one, and only one, goal in mind; raising money to fix his great-Nanny’s brain.
When he was asked how much he hoped to sell his picture for, he blurted out enthusiastically, “100 moneys!”
But he received much more than any of us could have imagined.
His beautiful work of art sold for $1000.00!
There were many people who could not afford to bid on it, but they donated to his cause. He received donations as little as $1.00 to as high as $1000.00.The total received (all from complete strangers) was an unbelievable $2600.00; and he donated all of it to the Alzheimer Society.
It was a bittersweet moment when the auction ended.
“Now we can fix great-Nanny!” Jaevin shouted as he jumped up and down with his sister.
“All this money will definitely help the scientists, Jaevin,” I told him, choking back my tears so I would not ruin his moment of glory. “But great-Nanny’s brain won’t be fixed right away. It takes time.”
“No, she’ll remember me now, Mommy. I drew her a picture!” he insisted.
Jaevin presented the winning bidders with the original drawing at an emotional ceremony given by the Alzheimer Society in St.Catharines, but we had scanned a copy for him to give to my grandmother.
He was excited, yet nervous to give her the picture. Fate was on our side because the day he gave it to her, she was happy and seemed like herself. She snuggled him and said, “You’re a good boy, Jaevin.”
And she knew exactly who he was.