Madison Teen Diagnosed with Rare Type of Cancer

By Maryanne Christiano-Mistretta

Madison teen, Jake Mocko, was like any other teen, going to high school and appreciating life. He just started driving. He enjoyed babysitting, reading, and painting. Then came the lower back pain, which overthe-counter meds and physical therapy couldn’t relieve him of. It was constant. And it wasn’t getting any better.

After getting an MRI, a very large, slow-growing tumor was discovered on his spine. Though the doctors felt it was benign, the fact that it was growing sideways was causing Jake to limp and scheduled him for a surgery within a few days.

“They didn’t know how he was still walking,” said his mother, Jennifer Mocko. “We went home. I watched his condition. I watched him decline immediately. He had to walk with assistance up and down the stairs. It was so scary.”

The surgery was performed on June 29, 2021, at Morristown Medical Center. Jake was there for 11 days. They removed most of the mass, but pieces wrapped around his spinal cord were unreachable. Jake was left with no mobility in his legs and arms. He was also left with a loss of feeling in his mid-section.

He had to learn to use his whole body all over again, since the tumor was located so high in his spinal cord. Jennifer explained, “He had to learn to use his arms all over again, touch his nose, touch his head, pick up utensils. He was making progress. We were seeing some of the nerve activity being restored. We were feeling hopeful. We were told he’d be walking in a few months.”

However, while focusing on helping Jake walk and move his arms again, results came back, along with tissue tests. Jake was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called astrocytoma, a highly aggressive cancer that does not respond to traditional treatments of radiation and chemo. After more testing, they learned his cancer is actually called a grade 4, high grade glioma/glioblastoma.

Jake had been through radiation and chemo. And since August of 2022, Jake has been going to DC once a month for T-cell therapy. That entire summer was spent at Kessler doing rehab with six weeks of radiation, five days a week. According to Jennifer, he had a two-month period where he was waking up multiple times at night with nerve pain, from the radiation.

The Mocko family has been dealing with a lot of grief over the past year. Jennifer and her husband have been going through a divorce and she’s tried to keep a positive attitude for her son. “The first time in the hospital, I was there with him by myself,” she said. “I thought, how I respond right now is going to influence how he’s going to deal with it. He embraced it. This is what we have to do. That’s been his attitude all along. Last spring doctors said he’s never going to walk again. He’s taking it in stride. He’s learning to accept this may be his life. But he hasn’t given up. He does physical therapy three times a week, he works out. Moving forward, he wants to be a counselor therapist. We keep our sights on the fact that he’s going to be here, and this is the life he wants.”

Jake is currently a student at County College of Morris (CCM), online, and working part time at the Madison YMCA.

“We are desperate to get Jake a handicapped accessible vehicle to drive,” Jennifer said. “He’s attending CCM online but would like to be ‘in person.’ We currently live up the street from the Madison YMCA where Jake can independently get to work in his power wheelchair. Unfortunately, I am also in the throes of a two-year divorce. Jake’s father wants to sell our family home as soon as possible, which is causing tremendous stress for the kids and I. Jake’s younger sister, Paige, is a freshman at Madison High. To me, it’s important she’ll stay at her school.”

While Jennifer is seeking another home in Madison that is within her budget and handicapped accessible, she wakes up every day thinking about how to make Jake’s life the best it can be.

“We love our home, we’d love to stay in Madison,” Jennifer said.

To contribute to Jake’s Go Fund Me, visit: www.gofundme. com/f/help-with-jakes-treatment.