Vivian Jones’s memory lives on through community fundraising

ROCHESTER — After Vivian Jones was diagnosed with cancer in May 2024, she spent 219 nights at the Boston Children’s Hospital with her mother Jennifer Jones by her side.

Jones said the hospital and Hole In the Wall Gang Camp — an organization that brings the sumer camp experience to hospitalized children — were “incredible” to Vivian and supported her family throughout her time as a patient there.

“She really took it in stride, even right up till the end, when things were not great,” Jones said. “She was a good girl. She was brave. I don't know a lot of adults that could have got through what she got through.”

When Vivian died in August 2025 at 11 years old, Jones said the town, Rochester Memorial School and Dark Horse Training communities rallied around her family to offer their support.

Jones often took Vivian and her younger daughter Everly to Dark Horse Training, a Rochester-based equine farm and riding facility. Vivian loved animals and horses in particular, and was close with many of her fellow riders at the barn.

Caitlin Lewis, of Fairhaven, co-owns the barn with her business partner Katie Speer of Rochester. Lewis said the death of their student left them feeling powerless and looking for a way to help the Jones family. 

Speer proposed they run the Boston Marathon, even though she said she’s “certainly not a runner,” to memorialize Vivian while raising money for groups that helped her during her hospitalization. 

“I grew up just outside of Boston, I've been going to the marathon to watch forever, and it was a fundraising opportunity in a way that was also challenging for us,” Speer said. “We could have just fundraised, but it's a goal for us and it's easier to get behind.”

Lewis exceeded her goal of $12,500 for the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp and Speer has raised over $15,000 for the Boston Children’s Hospital, surpassing her initial $10,000 goal. 

She said she often thinks of her former student, who she described as funny, smart and playfully sassy. 

Being at the barn brings back memories of Vivian, she said, especially when working with her horse Max. Lewis said Vivian’s memory has also helped prepare for the marathon.

“I think of her all the time in my training, I’m out struggling on a run, and I'm like, ‘Okay, at least I can be out here running,’ when I think of what they went through and what these other kids go through,” Lewis said.

Speer said her family, barn community and workplace were instrumental in her fundraising efforts. 

When she’s not working with students, Speer bartends at Fisher’s Pub in Middleboro. She said the eatery helped her raise money through monthly drink specials and letting her sell football squares.

“I'm having to do the physical work, obviously, but everybody has helped me so much. I'm super, super grateful,” Speer said.

Jones said she has been amazed by how the “barn family” — as she affectionately calls the Dark Horse Training community —have eagerly supported fundraising efforts in memory of her daughter and by Speer and Lewis’s effort.

“To memorialize her in that way was pretty spectacular, particularly in the Boston Marathon — it's a pretty big deal,” Jones said. “(Speer and Lewis) have done a lot of fundraising, to say nothing about the training they've been doing. They've been amazing.”

She said fundraising is just one way she hopes to see her daughter’s memory carried on. She is finalizing a nonprofit named after her daughter, the Live Like Vivi Foundation, to promote support for pediatric cancer research and awareness. 

Along with the Boston Children’s Hospital and Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, the foundation will also work with the Jimmy Fund and Beads of Courage, an organization that gifts beads to patients for each procedure they undergo or courageous act they take.