Soaring Spirit: Micah’s journey from St. Jude patient to FedEx Purple Eagle honoree

As 2024 began, Micah’s parents, Rebeccah and Adam, said a prayer for the new year. The hardships their family had experienced had strengthened their family bond and faith, Rebeccah said, but now they were hopeful for a year of “rest, rejuvenation and no trauma.” 

Now they’ve learned that Micah, a 7-year-old St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® leukemia patient, will have a plane named after him by FedEx as part of its Purple Eagle program. The plane will be dedicated during the week of the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

For as long as the plane is in service, it will fly the skies along its route with Micah’s name emblazoned on its side. 

When Micah found out, his eyes opened wide and he said, “Oh, wow!”  

His little brother, Lucas, who’s nuts about planes, was equally excited.

“It’s just been a blessing and something uplifting,” said Rebeccah.  

As part of the FedEx Purple Eagle program with St. Jude, every year a plane is named in honor of a child or a grandchild of a FedEx team member who is a St. Jude patient. 

“FedEx does whatever they can to not only help keep St. Jude going, but also find ways to bring joy to the kids amidst something that is so hard,” said Rebeccah.

Micah was nominated by his grandpa Craig, a long-time FedEx employee. He’s a manager of the crews that de-ice the runways and clean the planes.

“It’s just really good to see a company like FedEx say, ‘Hey, we want to give back,’” said Rebeccah. “And not just give back. They want to come alongside St. Jude and continuously support the St. Jude mission and its love for these kids.” 

‘We were hurting’

Soon after Micah started kindergarten in fall 2022, his mom noticed he looked especially pale. But she chalked that up to his time in the classroom and the cooler weather. 

“You don’t think ‘My child has pale skin. It must be cancer,’” said Rebeccah.

But that’s exactly what it was.  

In the weeks that followed, Micah, then 5, became listless, often putting himself to bed for naps. He ran intermittent fevers during Thanksgiving week and then, alarmingly, had a series of nosebleeds. 

A call to the pediatrician led to a trip to urgent care and then the local children’s hospital where tests revealed Micah had leukemia. Micah was referred to St. Jude.

“Of course, we lost it, but within three seconds, I dried my tears because I remembered Micah was in the room, and I didn’t want him to be scared,” said Rebeccah. “I was like, ‘OK, I can’t do this right now.’ So, I immediately stopped, and he was like, ‘Mommy, are you OK?’ And I said, ‘I’m good. I’m good. Mommy’s good.’”

Micah arrived at St. Jude by ambulance in the middle of the night. Even so, a St. Jude team was waiting on the family. 

“It was both overwhelming and really comforting because as soon as they pulled him into the room, several people came in and just started working,” said Rebeccah. “They were all in just like perfect fluidity just doing everything all at once. I felt safer and more confident, even in my shocked state.”

Micah had some hard days as his chemotherapy treatment plan began. But before long, questions like, “Mommy, why did this happen to me?” turned into statements like “Mommy, I’m going to help other kids when I’m older.”

But hardship wasn’t over for the family.

Days before Micah’s sixth birthday in July 2023, Rebeccah, who was pregnant, contracted a mysterious virus, triggering her body’s autoimmune response. 

“I was in the hospital for 10 days, and then it took me two months after that to regain the ability to walk,” said Rebeccah. All while Micah was still undergoing chemotherapy.

“At the end of September, we lost our baby,” said Rebeccah. 

“It was a year of hell, but it was probably the strongest we’ve ever gotten in our faith and the strongest we’ve ever gotten in our marriage. We were hurting, but we made it, and we’re good.”

‘Cause for celebration’

So, this Purple Eagle plane dedication in Micah’s name feels “like a cause for celebration after all that we’ve been through,” said Rebeccah.

Best of all, Micah, a rising second grader, is doing well.

Micah says he wants to be a St. Jude nurse one day.  

He got a piggy bank for Christmas and has been saving money to give to St. Jude to help other kids.

“He has the most generous, precious heart for people and for kids, and he makes me just want to be a better person myself,” said Rebeccah.