MEDINA, Ohio — A local mother battling a rare cancer is getting a lot of support from family, friends at a floral shop and a former college football player.
Jaime Packard, 38, is grateful for the unexpected generosity of Joel Belding, who was her classmate at Cloverleaf High School. Belding went on to play college football as an offensive lineman at Northwestern from 2004 to 2008.
Belding is playing in the Meadows Turkey Bowl for the first time. So far, he has raised about $8,000 and plans to give his donations to Packard and to the family of 37-year-old Lauren Ramey, who passed away from cancer last month.
Berry's Blooms in Granger Township, where Packard works, has also been accepting donations at the store.
"It kind of brings you to tears. It does. It's amazing," Packard said.
Belding, who said football taught him life lessons about adversity and character, said he was struck by Packard's story and felt compelled to help.
"This girl, who is just the sweetest, nicest person that could ever be, and she's just going through this terrible, terrible thing," Belding said. "She's a resilient person and I've seen that."
Packard is the head floral designer at Berry's Blooms. She is a single mom raising her 10-year-old son, Logan.
In October of 2023, she wasn't feeling well but was stunned when doctors discovered a tumor in her right ovary.
"We found out that it was a melanoma, which is a very rare place to find a melanoma," Packard said.
She has faced a very difficult battle over the last year with the cancer spreading to different parts of her body, most recently to her brain.
"On my scan in September, which we thought were going to be great, we found out that I had six brain tumors," she said.
Packard has been through multiple rounds of radiation and surgeries. More treatments and procedures are ahead, but she keeps her focus on the positive.
"The original tumors that we had in September, they're still there but they're shrinking," Packard said. "I want to make sure to keep that good attitude. Keep fighting."
The Meadows Turkey Bowl is in its 35th year. What began in 1990 as a friendly backyard football game has transformed into a charity event that has raised more than $4 million.
This year, the event is expected to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to support a partnership between the Cleveland Clinic and the University of California San Francisco for studies targeting oligodendroglioma, a rare type of brain tumor.
The game kicks off at 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving on Center Road in Hinckley.
