Community

Marin City Helps Out Jerome Grayson

Published

11 years ago

July 15, 2014

The family of Jerome Jabari Grayson, who has cancer, is seeking financial support from the community in their time of financial crisis.

The Grayson family is making its appeal for help through gofundme.com. Their webpage, created by Monique Dedrick-Grayson, is called, “New Lungs and Life for Jerome,” at www.gofundme.com/2b6tg4.

Jerome Grayson is loved and supported by his friends and family in Marin City and high school friends from throughout the county. He is the son of Vicki and Jerome Grayson. Henry Haynes and Annie May Haynes are his late grandparents, who were very well known in Marin City.

He is married to Monique, and the couple has two children, Jerome II, age 14, and Aniyah, age 10

In September 2011, Jerome Grayson became concerned about an egg-sized lump on his right thigh and went to the doctor. After an ultrasound, it was determined that the lump was likely the result of an injury and would resolve over time.

He still had the lump after two months. He returned to the doctor, who then ordered an MRI. It was determined that the lump would need to be biopsied.

Grayson and his wife was then told, prior to his scheduled biopsy, that he had a very rare form of cancer that very few professionals knows about, and that it would likely spread to his lungs.

They were then referred to an Oncology Department. Devastated, they began making calls to set up appointments. The new surgeon told the Graysons that it was not cancer and that further testing would be unnecessary and to cancel the scheduled CT scan.

A biopsy was scheduled for the following month.Ultimately, an x-ray was ordered, and it was determined that he did have cancer, which had spread to his lungs.

The official diagnosis was Stage 4 Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma, which has metastasized to his lungs.

Incurable but hopefully treatable, Grayson was accepted to do a trial treatment at the National Institute of health in Washington, D.C. Soon after his diagnosis, he and his wife committed to do whatever was necessary, including taking monthly trips to the East Coast for treatments.

In September he went through restaging, just as he had done every two months since his diagnosis, except this time the scan came back and showed growth of the tumors on his lungs.

At this point Grayson was placed on permanent Social Security Disability, removing him from his extremely stressful work with children.

Money have become increasingly difficult for the family, due to the traveling expenses, everyday living and the family’s income being reduced a fraction of what it once was. And Grayson is ineligible for Medicare due to a two-year waiting period, and must now pay the entire cost of his Cobra Health Insurance.

He is hoping he can raise enough money to help the family through these trying times. They are asking the community for their thoughts and prayers and thank them in advance for their contributions.

There will be several fundraisers coordinated friends in Marin City. Some of these include items sold at the snack bar at the Manzanita Recreation Center basketball games; movie nights for children and families; raffle prizes; a special dinner at the Outback Restaurant.

Anyone interested in other ideas to help fundraise, contact Paul Austin at (415) 686-5045 or Wayne Price at (415) 572-7258.

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 2 – 8, 2025

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July 7, 2025

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Trump Set to Sign Largest Cut to Medicaid After a Marathon Protest Speech by Leader Jeffries

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The bill also represents the biggest cut in Medicare in history and is a threat to the health care coverage of over 15 million people. The spending in Trump’s signature legislation also opens the door to a second era of over-incarceration in the U.S.

Published

4 days ago

July 3, 2025

Oakland Post

By Lauren Burke

By a vote of 218 to 214, the GOP-controlled U.S. House passed President Trump’s massive budget and spending bill that will add $3.5 trillion to the national debt, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The bill also represents the biggest cut in Medicare in history and is a threat to the health care coverage of over 15 million people. The spending in Trump’s signature legislation also opens the door to a second era of over-incarceration in the U.S. With $175 billion allocated in spending for immigration enforcement, the money for more police officers eclipsed the 2026 budget for the U.S. Marines, which is $57 billion. Almost all of the policy focus from the Trump Administration has focused on deporting immigrants of color from Mexico and Haiti.

The vote occurred as members were pressed to complete their work before the arbitrary deadline of the July 4 holiday set by President Trump. It also occurred after Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries took the House floor for over 8 hours in protest. Leader Jeffries broke the record in the U.S. House for the longest floor speech in history on the House floor. The Senate passed the bill days before and was tied at 50-50, with Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski saying that, “my hope is that the House is gonna look at this and recognize that we’re not there yet.” There were no changes made to the Senate bill by the House. A series of overnight phone calls to Republicans voting against, not changes, was what won over enough Republicans to pass the legislation, even though it adds trillions to the debt. The Trump spending bill also cuts money to Pell grants.

“The Big Ugly Bill steals food out of the hands of starving children, steals medicine from the cabinets of cancer patients, and equips ICE with more funding and more weapons of war than the United States Marine Corps. Is there any question of who those agents will be going to war for, or who they will be going to war against? Beyond these sadistic provisions, Republicans just voted nearly unanimously to close urban and rural hospitals, cripple the child tax credit, and to top it all off, add $3.3 trillion to the ticking time bomb that is the federal deficit – all from a party that embarrassingly pretends to stand for fiscal responsibility and lowering costs,” wrote Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY) in a statement on July 3.

“The Congressional Budget Office predicts that 17 million people will lose their health insurance, including over 322,000 Virginians. It will make college less affordable. Three million people will lose access to food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). And up to 16 million students could lose access to free school meals. The Republican bill does all of this to fund tax breaks for millionaires, billionaires, and corporations,” wrote Education and Workforce Committee ranking member Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) in a statement. The bill’s passage has prompted Democrats to start thinking about 2026 and the next election cycle. With the margins of victory in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate being so narrow, many are convinced that the balance of power and the question of millions being able to enjoy health care come down to only several thousand votes in congressional elections. But currently, Republicans controlled by the MAGA movement control all three branches of government. That reality was never made more stark and more clear than the last seven days of activity in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.