ACWORTH, Ga. — A metro Atlanta firefighter is fighting a different battle as he supports his young daughter who's dealing with a recent cancer diagnosis.
Brad Jones works around the clock putting out fires as a Dobbins Airforce Base firefighter, but as of late he's been sidelined. Jones' 5-year-old daughter, Grace, was rushed to the hospital in December after she couldn't stop vomiting.
“Her mom took her to Scottish Rite of Atlanta and her mom said, 'you need to get the hospital right now because Grace has a brain tumor,'" he explained.
Grace's mother, Ashley Jones, said it was soon after that doctors discovered that the tumor was cancerous, and that "the cancer she got is blastoma and it’s basically a tumor on the back side of where your cerebellum is."
Since then, the co-parents have been juggling Grace's care, work, and taking care of their son, Chase. Grace has had two surgeries to remove the tumor and is now undergoing chemotherapy.
Because of the nature of Brad's job, he is now taking unpaid time off to take Grace to and from her procedures. He decided to turn to another skill of his to supplement his income.
"I started doing woodworking years again when I was in South Georgia and didn't really know anyone," he said.
The firefighter now makes beautiful cutting boards, and decided he could work on them and sell them while he was at home caring for his daughter. A co-worker shared his effort on social media, and he quickly started receiving dozens of requests.
"A buddy of mine posted it on Facebook and I got a lot of good feedback from that," Brad said.
He was slowly making his way through the orders, when a piece of his woodworking equipment fell and broke his foot last week.
“I was just like, 'oh my gosh – are you kidding me?' When it rains, it pours," Ashley recalled when she heard what had happened.
Brad now not only couldn't make the boards, but is unable to work at all while his foot heals, with doctors estimating it will take six to eight weeks to recover.
Grace is scheduled to have chemotherapy over the next six months. Anyone who wants to support Grace and Brad, visit this online fundraiser here.