ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A St. Johns County student is one of this year’s recipients of the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Scholarship.
Julia Dyer graduated from Bartram Trail High school and is set to go to Georgia Southern University.
The Jay Fund gives scholarships to childhood cancer patients and survivors. The foundation was established by former Jaguars head coach Tom Coughlin.
Dyer battled cancer for two years.
Now she and her family are soaking up all the family time they can, as she heads off to Georgia Southern University on Monday where she intends to study nursing.
Dyer is considering a career in oncology, anesthesiology or becoming a family practitioner.
“I’ve always been fascinated with anything medical, Dyer said. “I just know that it is something that God has pushed toward me to do.”
Dyer is going to college with a $10,000 scholarship from the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund.
“It was just amazing to find out that they are going to help me get through college like they helped me get through everything,” Dyer said. “I was ecstatic because the Jay fund has done so much for my family, and I am very fortunate for them.”
In 2010, Dyer was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when she was just four years old.
“I remember being 4 and being little and I had a little port. I remember the nurses and the hospital visits,” Dyer said. “I just never felt alone. Everybody was always there and we always watched Disney movies.”
She valiantly fought it for two years until she beat it in July 2012. Dyer had a “No more chemotherapy” party to celebrate the triumph.
Dyer’s mother, Susan, thanks the Jay Fund for being there for their family. She says it took some of the burden off them.
“Even if you are not struggling with money, you are not thinking about paying your bills at that time,” Susan said. “You are using gas money. You are taking time off work. They just kind of give you comfort of saying, ‘Hey let’s pay your mortgage this month,’ because you do not realize how much money you putting out, buying lunches, driving to the hospital, insurance builds up.”
The Jay Fund has been doing that kind of work since 1996 shortly after Coughlin became the Jags head coach. The scholarship launched six years later.
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The Dyer family says Julia was a strong fighter during her battle, but her father says it truly became real to him after a harrowing experience during her chemo treatment.
“I just remember petting or stroking her hair, and it was just falling out in my hands, just like clumps,” Will Dyer said.
Julia is 18 years old now and has been cancer-free for 12 years.
“It is just kind of hard to grasp sometimes that that was me,” she said. “I see so many kids who were my age going through it. It is hard to believe that I was their age when I was going through it.”
Julia is a champion and encourages others that they can do the same thing.
“Don’t lose hope. God is there,” she said. “He is not going to leave you, and He is always right there. No matter how young you are, He is always there through your whole life. You just cannot lose faith. You have to pray and keep pushing you cannot give up no matter how tired or sick or lonely you feel.”
Julia is one of seven Jacksonville area students to earn the Jay Fund Scholarship this year. Ten more students in New York and New Jersey also received scholarships.