GONZALES — For a young family going through a difficult time financially as their son goes through treatment for leukemia, they are able to breathe a little easier today. Because of a raffle fundraiser put on by La Petite Papillons, the family received a check for $6,000 to help with the unexpected expenses they’ve encountered since Jackson Virga’s diagnosis with JMML.
“We’ve been going through a tough time for the past few months and that was very uplifting to us,” shared Janay LeJeune, mother to Jackson. “Actually, it took a big weight off of our shoulders, especially for the mortgage and everything for the house.”
Late last year, LeJeune said she had quit her job to be able to stay with Jackson while he’s at the hospital in Memphis. Shortly after making that decision, her fiancé, Jackson’s father, lost his job.
The family currently has a GoFundMe to help with expenses as both parents are out of work and supporting their young son through chemotherapy and an upcoming transplant. This morning’s presentation brought new encouragement to them.
“It made me feel supported from a community and happy and loved, and I don’t even know how to explain it like it was. It was overwhelming for us, honestly,” LeJeune said.
On another positive note, Jackson’s bone marrow transplant admission date is later this month: March 23. His mom shared that the donor is a 100% match.
On March 3, Jackson will start more testing to prepare for the transplant. This includes bloodwork, organ tests, CT scans, and more to ensure everything is working well before the procedure.
LeJeune said Jackson’s most recent lab work was also looking good after his latest round of chemotherapy, so they are feeling more positive at the moment.
“As a mom, trust your gut right now. If a doctor is telling you something and you don’t feel right about it, get a second opinion. Because, if we didn’t do that, we could be having a different conversation a year from now and Jackson wouldn’t be as lucky,” LeJeune said.
Another fundraiser will take place in June to benefit Jackson and his family at Carretas Grill in Slidell, where Jackson’s father is from. The event will take place on June 20, and raffle tickets can be purchased by contacting Lisa Virga at (504) 957-7255 and through Venmo (information below).
Original Feb. 18, 2026
A local little boy with a very rare form of leukemia just completed his second round of chemotherapy, and his family is looking toward the next step: bone marrow transplant.
Jackson Virga was recently diagnosed last year with a rare form of cancer for his age: Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia or JMML. JMML is rare, occurring in 1-2 cases per 1 million people, his mother, Janay LeJeune explained.
Jackson recently completed his second round of chemotherapy, his family shared. This round was harder on him with side effects like nausea, vomiting and pain from the cells dying in his bone marrow, they said. However, things are going well and they are out of St. Jude’s for now.
“We are waiting on “count recovery” meaning waiting on cells to regenerate and immune system to improve,” LeJeune shared.
In addition, Jackson and his parents are beginning the 90-day transplant journey in the next couple of weeks. Details are being finalized with the bone marrow donor and scheduling their trip to Memphis.
To help support the family while they stay in Memphis with Jackson, tickets are now on sale for a raffle fundraiser.
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased by contacting Michelle LeJeune at (225) 315- 9263 and through her Venmo: Michele-LeJeune. Put your name/phone # in the comments, and Michelle will turn in the ticket names to the daycare.
The drawing will be held March 2nd.
Original Story Dec. 21, 2025
One family is dealing with the unthinkable this holiday season after their now seven-month-old was diagnosed with cancer and has been living at St. Jude Children’s Hospital for several weeks.
The infant’s mother, Janay LeJeune, shared how her son Jackson was recently diagnosed with a rare form of cancer for his age: Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia or JMML. JMML is rare, occurring in 1-2 cases per 1 million people.
Jackson was around three months old and had just started daycare when his parents noticed some changes. He’d been a happy baby, but soon he was crying more, coughing, and sneezing, so they took him to the pediatrician, who said he probably had a virus.
“It’ll be fine, it’ll go away. I kept bringing him to the pediatrician, and they kept just saying it was a virus,” LeJeune recalled.
On Labor Day weekend, Jackson’s parents brought him to get his four-month shots. The afternoon after he’d received his vaccinations, LeJeune said he stopped eating and began running a fever. His fever and lack of appetite continued through the next day.
“I was like, I just don’t feel right about this. I need to bring him to the hospital later. We need to bring him to the hospital, because I just don’t know what’s going on, still running fever, he’s not eating,” LeJeune said. Once at the Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital, Jackson underwent a spinal tap, testing and lab work, where medical personnel noticed his platelets count was low.
This, however, isn’t uncommon for a child with a virus, so the hospital admitted him for dehydration associated with the rhinovirus they diagnosed Jackson with, his mother explained. He stayed in the hospital for three days with low platelet levels, and the staff decided he should go to a St. Jude affiliate clinic to be further examined.
‘I was terrified I was going to lose my son’
The doctor at the clinic, Dr. Jeffrey Deyo, ran bloodwork that showed Jackson’s white blood cell count was higher than normal and his platelets were still low, but because of the virus, requested that they come back in two weeks to check his numbers again.
When they went back to the clinic, Jackson’s numbers were still bad, so Dr. Deyo ran extensive bloodwork and testing. The family waited another two weeks for the results.
“They called us and asked us to come in. And so we went in, and he sat us down and said, I thought that I was being too aggressive with his blood work, but we did find a detection of Monosomy 7, which means his seventh chromosome is missing the short end of the Y chromosome.”
Monosomy 7 helps fight off infection, the mother explained, and can coincide with a bone marrow disease called MDS, which will lead to cancer if untreated.
The doctor urged the family to go to Memphis to St. Jude Children’s Hospital for more testing to determine if this was what was going on. Jackson was around five-months-old at this point, and once in Memphis, began multiple types of biopsies and testing.
While the original plan was to perform a bone marrow transplant once Jackson turned 1, through the extensive tests at St. Jude, the family learned his symptoms were more consistent with a type of leukemia called JMML.
“This is also a very rare leukemia that a lot of parents don’t really know about, but when they found out, when they called us and told us they were suspecting JMML, we of course, were like, Oh my God. We thought we had a plan to figure all this out. Now our plans change,” LeJeune said.
DONATE HERE TO HELP JACKSON’S FAMILY
She admitted that she was terrified when she first heard the diagnosis. “I was terrified I was going to lose my son, because the first thing you think of when you hear cancer or leukemia is death.”
Before Jackson, LeJeune did not know if she could have children due to multiple health concerns, including a tumor removed from one of her ovaries. When she found out she was pregnant with Jackson, it was a “very exciting time.”
Now, she’s watching the child she’d hoped for her entire life go through the unthinkable.
“I will say, seeing him right now, going through this, his spirits are still high, and he’s doing so well, and it’s keeping me afloat. Honestly, he is keeping me afloat,” she said.
Treatment in Memphis
In mid-November, they performed another bone marrow biopsy that showed his symptoms and cells were consistent with the JMML, she said.
The St. Jude team said that because Jackson was doing well, they would wait until after Thanksgiving to begin chemo. He also qualified for a clinical trial consisting of four different chemotherapies.
LeJeune said that if it hadn’t been for Dr. Deyo’s diligence with testing and looking for more answers, things could look very different for Jackson.
“If it wasn’t for him, we could have been having a different conversation about a year from now,” she added.
Jackson just finished his 11th day of chemo, and will need two 28-day rounds of chemotherapy, LeJeune shared. If everything goes well, they will still do a bone marrow transplant afterward.
The search is already on for a donor, and two potential matches have been identified. After the bone marrow transplant, Jackson will stay in the hospital for about a month due to his compromised immune system before he and his family can begin steps to go back home.
Financial hardships
LeJeune said she had quit her job to be able to stay with their son while he’s at the hospital in Memphis, and now her fiancé, Jackson’s father, has lost his job.
“His dad has been driving back and forth on Fridays to see his son,” she said. “He went into work last Friday —and every Friday since he started this job, he worked all week, and then Fridays, he’d worked a half day and leave no problem. But then this past Friday, he left early and came in Monday, and they told him that he needed to put in his two weeks or they were going to do it for him. He lost his job.”
This is just another blow for the family. “It’s just been kind of a whirlwind of emotions the last four months,” LeJeune said.
As she stays with Jackson in Memphis, LeJeune is caring for him around the clock, making sure his diapers are changed every couple hours, making sure that he’ll eat, giving him multiple baths a day, and changing linens regularly. Although there are nurses and staff nearby, LeJeune said it’s been a lot to handle.
“It’s emotionally taxing.”
The family created a GoFundMe for people to help with bills and living expenses as Jackson undergoes chemotherapy and starts his journey to healing.
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