Friends of Jack supports pediatric health around the South Coast

MATTAPOISETT — Jill Fearons never left her son Jack’s side when he was admitted to Boston Children’s Hospital at 5 years old.

Jack needed surgery to correct a brain malformation that can cause motor and cognitive dysfunction. As he was recovering from the surgery, he developed fluid buildup in his lungs which made breathing difficult.

On the day he was supposed to be discharged, doctors discovered fluids surrounding his brain were building up and putting pressure on it.

Fearons said she was able to remain with her son for the months he spent at the hospital, and it made her appreciate the importance of funding pediatric care in the area. 

“My family left that hospital very different people than when we went in,” she said. “I was home for maybe a week with Jack, and I reached out to South Coast Health to say, ‘I want to have a fundraiser for you. I want to bring some awareness to pediatrics.’”

The Mattapoisett mother formalized her fundraising efforts in 2019 when she founded Friends of Jack, a nonprofit named after her son who is now a freshman in high school. Through the foundation, she works to raise money for South Coast hospitals and organizations that serve children, bring the community together and give back.

Friends of Jack has raised about $4 million, Fearons said, which has gone to the purchase of equipment at area hospitals, provided salaries for three child life specialists — health care professionals who support children and their families through their time in hospitals — and funded various initiatives through organizations working with children. 

The money also funds programs to boost the spirits of children undergoing medical procedures, such as providing them with stuffed animals or capes and masks to help them feel like superheroes. 

Fearons said she wants to help families stay in the South Coast region when seeking care for their children. She said this saves them money on a trip to Boston, eases demand on hospitals in the city and improves overall pediatric healthcare access in the region. 

Many doctors who work for the Boston Children’s Hospital even work at satellite campuses in the area. 

“We're so fortunate, that within an hour, we have the best hospitals in the world,” she said. “It's important for us to be able to keep funding everything  they could possibly need to keep kids here. It's less stress on the families, the child and just all around.”

The former teacher had been a stay-at-home mother before beginning the nonprofit, and said without fundraising experience she had a lot to learn. 

While it has been “scary at times” to run the foundation, she said she quickly learned how important the cause is to people. 

“As I started working with the hospitals and getting to know the donors, I realized everybody wanted what we wanted,” Fearons said. “Everybody wants kids to have the best possible care.”

She said the effort has been worthwhile, and the community has rallied around the organization. 

Fearons has connections with donors, organizations and businesses across the region and said Friends of Jack relies on these partners — including ones in her hometown — to accomplish its goals.

“The Mattapoisett community is amazing,” she said. “I can always call and someone's there to help me, whether it be fire or EMS, a local business, restaurants — just anybody.”

Because most of the funds raised by the organization directly support hospitals instead of individual families, Fearons said people don’t always know her organization helped them.  

That doesn’t bother her, though.

Sometimes a parent tells her about a great experience they had at a hospital, and she said she just smiles to herself as she hears how Friends of Jack impacted them.

“There's a lot of times people say, ‘Why don't you brand this?’ or ‘Why don't you have a sign here,’” she said. “We don't need that. We just need to be doing the right thing for kids and able to help families make things that are scary a little less scary.”