Tom Coughlin Hosts Annual Remembrance Weekend for Families Affected by Childhood Cancer

Honoring lives lost

Tom Coughlin, the former head coach of the Jaguars and, more recently, one of the team’s top executives, hosts an annual Remembrance Weekend in Ponte Vedra Beach for families who have lost a child to cancer.

The Jay Fund was established in honor of Jay McGillis, who conceived leukemia while playing for Coughlin’s Boston College team. For the last 25 years, the organization has worked to support families where children are battling cancer.

During a candlelight memorial on Sunday night in the Arbor Ballroom, families and siblings gathered to honor the lives lost to childhood cancer.

Mascot Jake Berglund had a lot of fun.
Simply put, he was incredibly vibrant and high-energy. According to Jake’s sister, Gracie Berglund, “He was just a really special kid.”

A community of support

According to Berglund, he was deeply engaged in the Yulee community.

“I think you would be really proud,” Berglund replied.
However, he was just 13 years old when he received a leukemia diagnosis.

It was merely a high-and-low emotional roller coaster. During his treatment, we had no clear idea what to expect. Then, in March 2020, he had a relapse and less than a month later, he went away. This came as a huge surprise to us, according to Berglund.

The feelings from that period persist four years later.
“It doesn’t get easier, but I think it gets more manageable,” Berglund stated, “especially with the support and ongoing support from organizations like the Jay Fund.”

Coping with loss

The Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Program’s Shelby Skipper, a child life specialist and program manager, discussed the impact their work has on families suffering from a cancer diagnosis.

Having someone walk beside you in that journey who understands exactly what it’s like makes the burden a little easier to bear for families, Skipper said. “I think that childhood cancer is such an isolating diagnosis because

I’ve heard so many families tell me, ‘It’s like the world just completely stops, and then it has to go because life keeps going,” Skipper said.

Through sharing stories and processing grief together, parents and siblings are placed in rooms throughout the weekend-long events. Berglund remarked, “I think it would just be embracing him with a big hug. I believe when we get there, time really won’t matter. It’ll be like we never were apart. I’m not sure what those words would be.”