Jackson-based 'Believing Beyond' foundation helps families face childhood cancer

Lloyd and Alison Diamond’s 8-year-old son Darek was diagnosed with a brain tumor six months ago, flipping their world upside-down.

Since then, Darek’s first round of chemotherapy is about halfway done, and several agencies have reached out to help them. But Jackson-based Believing Beyond, Lloyd said, was especially comforting because its founders, Rachelle and Dean Weber, understand their predicament.

“There are bigger organizations than Believing Beyond, but it has the more personal touch,” he said. “It means more when you can put a single face to the organization. You know who you’re going to be talking with instead of talking with just whoever’s available at that time.”

The Webers began the Believing Beyond foundation after their oldest son, Nolan, died of a brain tumor in 2013. Rachelle said the goal is to provide parents of children battling cancer with the emotional and financial support friends and even family might not realize they need.

“A lot of people mean well, of course,” Rachelle Weber said. “But a lot of them don’t know what to do. They don’t know what to say. And it’s nobody’s fault; it just comes with having a child diagnosed with [cancer].”

Although the foundation gave about $13,000 last year in aid and about $1,500 in memorial scholarships, the emotional support is more important, Lloyd Diamond said. Alison and Rachelle have weekly phone conversations in addition to the charitable gifts.

“It’s just good to have someone else to talk with who has been through the same experiences you’ve been going through,” Lloyd said.

“I try to talk to them the way I wanted to be talked to,” Rachelle Weber said. “I didn’t even know what that was back then, but looking back on it, there are things I wanted to hear or things that I wanted to know. It’s a very case-by-case basis.”

Weber said since forming the group, they’ve worked with about 10 families between Fruitland and Sikeston, Missouri. The foundation’s biggest fundraiser by far is an annual 5k to be held Sept. 24 this year. September is childhood cancer awareness month, a cause Weber said is drastically underfunded. Thursday is the registration deadline to guarantee a race shirt, and Weber encouraged non-runners to participate, too.

Even in the midst of a terrible ordeal, the community’s generosity is not lost on families such as the Diamonds.

“Heartwarming is a pretty generic term, but it’s very heartwarming to receive help in all these ways from people you never knew before and who aren’t expecting anything back,” Lloyd Diamond said.

“We’ve seen a lot of great things from people who don’t owe us anything. They’re just doing it out of the kindness of their hearts.”

tgraef@semissourian.com

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