Sixth-grader plans community benefit for Kiersa

By AMANDA RICKER Chronicle Staff Writer

Sixth-grader Emily Geer sleeps in Kiersa Jacobs’ old bedroom in Belgrade.

Kiersa, 3, was diagnosed with cancer late last summer and she and her family were forced to move to Portland, Ore., so she could receive appropriate treatment. The Chronicle detailed the Jacobs’ journey in a series of stories published this week.

After reading the first article on Sunday, Emily was sitting in her garage -- in the red house on David Drive that her family rents from the Jacobs -- when she came up with an idea.

“It just popped into my head,” Emily, 11, said. “I’m going to have a garage sale for Kiersa in my n their n garage. I will be taking donations of items from anyone who can give.”

Kiersa has Ewing’s sarcoma, a bone and soft-tissue cancer that rarely affects children so young. Because Montana’s pediatric cancer services are limited, Kiersa, her parents, Jill and Nick, brothers Tyson, 10, and Avery, 9, and sister Glenna, 7, have moved to Oregon.

The medical bills have reached into the six-figure realm, Nick Jacobs has estimated, although Kiersa’s treatment in Oregon is largely covered by that state’s insurance plan. But the family was uninsured when the saga began and the hospital and doctors’ bills, plus the costs of moving and lost work, have put a financial strain on the family.

The Jacobs’ situation struck a chord with Emily, her father, Tom Geer, said.

“She read that article and she just came back and said, ‘I want to do this garage sale,’” Tom said. “It was 100 percent her idea.”

Emily and Kiersa’s families go to the same church, Christ’s Church in Bozeman.

The two girls have met a few times, but don’t know each other well; the Jacobs moved away just as the Geers were moving here from Michigan, Tom said.

Yet Emily said Kiersa often drifts into her thoughts.

“Sometimes, you’ll just be sitting there (in her room) and be thinking about her out of the blue,” she said.

Emily’s community garage sale will be June 5 through June 7 at 52 David Drive in Belgrade. All proceeds will benefit Kiersa and her family.

In addition to the items Emily plans to clean out of her own house to sell, she’s taking donations of items.

Donations may be dropped off at the Belgrade Fire Department, at 205 E. Main St. Emily is also looking for area businesses to act as collection points. For more information, contact the Geers at 600-5685.

“(The Jacobs) are living every parent’s worst nightmare,” Tom said. “We really take the health of our children for granted and they’re just getting through it.”

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