(Shoshoni, WY) – In November of 2024, CJ Williams and Hayley Friday received the news that no parents want to hear, when they found out that their 9-year-old daughter Madison Belle was diagnosed with high-grade glioma, a rare form of brain cancer.
CJ and Hayley shared that a tangerine-sized tumor was discovered in Madison’s brain at that time, and since then she has endured two surgeries to remove the tumor, another surgery to implant a permanent shunt from her brain to her abdomen, more than 30 treatments of proton radiation, and she also endured three weeks of bacterial pneumonia that left her intubated and in critical condition.
The whole process has left Madison wheelchair-bound, and has led to the family having to make countless round trips to Salt Lake for the various treatments.
CJ explained that upon hearing about Madison’s situation, Jason’s Friends has been helping pay for those travel and lodging expenses.
Jason’s Friends is a Casper organization that aims to “assist Wyoming families whose children suffer from cancer, brain tumors or spinal cord tumors by providing financial assistance, advocacy and encouragement.”
When Jason’s Friends went on to learn that the family’s home in Shoshoni did not have a wheelchair ramp for easy accessibility, they also helped secure and pay for the materials needed to build the ramp.
Up until it’s completion, CJ and Hayley have had to physically lift and lower Madison and her wheelchair up and down the stairs to their home, which has been especially demanding on CJ due to ongoing issues with his back.
Once the need for the ramp was known and the funding was secured, that’s when Wind River Job Corps stepped in.
“The Jason Friends foundation out of Casper, they helped pay for all of the materials, and they reached out to Job Corps to ask if our students would do this as one of our community service projects,” Andrea Martinez-Watson, the Career Transition Readiness Specialist for the Job Corps explained, adding that she was stepping in during the final stages for Business Engagement Coordinator Jerri Prejean, who facilitated the whole process with Jason’s Friends.
“We are always more than happy to jump up and help out our community. These kids built the entire deck. Our instructor and his field coordinator came out a couple weeks ago, made all the measurements, mapped it all out, and built an amazing design for it.”
Martinez-Watson said that the students built the entire deck and ramp in the Job Corps carpentry workshop, then disassembled it all for transportation to Madison’s home, where it was reassembled and fitted to the house.
“With the help of our Heavy Truck Driving class, they loaded it all up on the flatbed and brought it all out here. So we had both of our trades, HTD and carpentry, working together to load and unload this project.”
The ramp and deck were then up in about a week’s time.
Led by the Carpentry Instructor Jason Pagnoni, along with the Field Coordinator Jared Baldes, the students involved in the building and housefitting of the ramp included: Bazil Addison, Shamien Bailey, Mark Bennett, Alexander Bonsal, Samuel Buron, Henry Cardoza, Alden Crazythunder, Isiah Divers, Mary Duran, Alexander Gray, Robert IronEyes, Daniel King, Valerie Mattox, Jason Moss, Cody O’Brien, Lelene Shavehead, Chance Stienmetz, James Whiteman, and Benny Yellowbear Moss.
Martinez-Watson also wanted to make sure that crew who was responsible for moving the ramp and supplies got a shout out as well, which was led by Heavy Truck Driving Instructors Becky Little, Calvin Martin, and Julee Nicol, with the students including: Jamaya Anderson, Brandon DeLeon, Patrick Jewell, Carlyle McGinnis-Sparks, Listat Pope, Peter Roy, Damiean Stephen, Athos Van Dinter, Joshuwa Begley, Jayden Quintana, William Brown, Joshua Crouch, Cody Downs, James Muhlbach, Scott Ross, Seth Smith, David Flood, Kyle Gillette, Cody Mayfield, Moses Shepherd, Kyle Mosser, and Daniel Ulate Leal.
Wind River Job Corps also provided the following pictures of the various stages of the ramp being built, delivered, and reconstructed.
“It’s been humbling,” CJ shared when asked what the response from the community has been in terms of helping Madison’s cause, from Job Corps, to Jason’s Friends, to monetary donations from the Shoshoni Fast Lane, to Make-A-Wish, who recently helped Madison’s wish to go to Hawaii and swim with dolphins come true.
Hayley also pointed out that Madison’s Aunt Rosie Detimore came all the way from Texas to be by her side and help the family.
“As much as it’s taken away from Madison and of course, just our lives, so much has been given back,” CJ remarked. “And it’s hard to put words together to really talk about how appreciative we are.”
In addition to various fundraisers for Madison, the outpouring of support from the Fremont community has been shown in multiple ways.
When Madison returned from Salt Lake after her bout with pneumonia, she was greeted in Riverton by a giant parade of friends, family, firefighters, first responders and law enforcement.
“It was amazing how they all came together to get the parade going,” Aunt Rosie commented. “I had never seen anything like that.”
After the parade, Shoshoni Police Chief Chris Konija also made Madison an honorary member of the Shoshoni Police Department, where she even received an official badge.
The next week, the Town of Shoshoni and Shoshoni Town Council declared June 8, Madison’s birthday, as Madison’s Day in Shoshoni.
“So now she’s got her own holiday,” CJ commented, adding that the holiday is also meant to raise awareness for childhood cancer and what families go through during that process.
Additionally, the Wolverine Soccer Pink Game announced that their annual fundraiser game will go to Madison, as well as Garret Rogers, another Fremont youth who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor.
Despite being told by doctors that treatments may “only be prolonging the inevitable,” the outpouring of support from the community and maintaining a positive attitude has kept CJ and Hayley constantly pushing forward.
“I mean, the doctors told us that Madison only had, like, three months to a year, and we just refuse to believe that,” Hayley shared.
“You think about looking back on all the day to day crap that just consumed us, you know, and then all of a sudden just none of that matters,” CJ added. “I don’t care about work, I don’t care about the house. I just want to be a dad. I want to be in the moment and I know that I need to enjoy every single second that I get because we don’t know.”
“There’s no way to comprehend it,” CJ continued. “We honestly still can’t even comprehend it to the point that having the hard talks and making the hard decisions is just almost impossible. But we have to.”
“We have to be strong,” Hayley added.
“We’re the parents. We have to. We have to push ourselves to make those choices whether we want to or not,” CJ continued. “And at this point, it’s being aware that we have to know when enough is enough and to be able to recognize that point and just let things be, or, as we hope, that things are going to get better, and then we don’t end this with a whole bunch of regrets.”
“It’s brought Haley and I much closer together. I can’t even imagine having a better person on my side to go through this.”
“We’re so grateful for everybody,” Hayley went on to share.
“I’m sure it doesn’t come across on a recording how truly grateful we are… just everything that everybody’s done,” CJ added. “The donations, the time, the food trains, the prayers. Especially the prayers. You know, that’s. That’s worth more than gold to me personally.”
And now the family can add having easier access to to their home as something to be thankful for, thanks to the efforts of the Wind River Job Corps and Jason’s Freinds.
(You can donate directly to Madison’s GoFundMe here, or to the family’s Venmo (XRW600). You can donate directly to Jason’s Friends here. You can also follow Madison’s journey and stay up to date on her progress on the Marvelous Madison Belle Facebook page.)