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.