CJ Delfosse was eight years old when he was diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer that would rob him of his life just a couple of years later. Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma is a muscle cancer that manifested in the early stages with CJ having a hard time breathing and swallowing. Doctors initially thought it was asthma and then pneumonia. After performing a CT scan with contrast, the tumor was discovered.
CJ’s mother Stephanie, father Chris and sister Sophia said he was an active and funny little boy who loved to play competitive soccer, roast people and tell jokes. Chris said CJ was so excited to play for Murrieta Surf.
“He was quite the jokester, always making me laugh and always trying to roast me,” Chris recalled. “He used to call me Got No Jokes; he even changed my name in my wife’s phone to that.”
Stephanie said CJ had the best smile and laugh and touched so many kids and adults before and during his treatment.
It was those interactions that led the family to create a nonprofit in his memory. CJ’s Smile was founded in March, two months after the 10-year-old passed.
“I just knew I had to keep his memory alive,” Stephanie said. “Our mission is to raise money to give Amazon gift cards to Rady Children’s Hospital where he was treated to help put smiles on the kids’ faces who are fighting cancer. CJ received a lot of gifts that helped him.”
The family took gift cards to the San Diego hospital in October and plan to make a few trips there each year. She said that it is hard seeing the nurses and oncologists who were treating her son but because they ended up being like family it also feels good to see them again.
“With COVID, the hospital still has rules on giving actual gifts,” Stephanie said. “I hope to connect with parents on a cancer Facebook page to get in touch with them to learn about specific gifts that would be appreciated.”
Chris said, “There is so much hurt in my heart knowing I’ll never get to see my son grow up, never get to see him play soccer again, never get to see him become the police officer he always wanted to be. There are so many things we’ll never know because we were robbed of him. With all this hurt we feel in our hearts, it feels good to carry on his legacy as the kid who always made others smile through our CJ’s Smile foundation. We know how much joy he would get from receiving gifts at the hospital and it makes me happy being able to provide that same joy to other children.”
Stephanie said it takes a village to manage CJ’s Smile and she and Chris are thankful for friends and extended family that are supporting the cause. She has a friend who makes merchandise with the organization’s logo that helps raise funds. There is an entire committee who is helping the family organize CJ’s Soccer Classic in loving memory of the young boy. The pre-season friendly tournament for teams from soccer organizations will be Jan. 28, 2023 at Heritage Lake Sports Park in Menifee. Open to teams with boys and girls 10U through 14U, there will be vendors, raffles and a 50/50 drawing for the public to enjoy and support. The cost to enter is $20 per player with all proceeds going to the CJ’s Smile nonprofit. To register, go to https://tinyurl.com/mtenhbzj. For more information, call 310-892-9080 or email cjsmile11@gmail.com.
Temecula Valley High School senior Katelyn Kitzerow said losing her cousin and best friend, CJ, was a heartbreaking experience and she is still learning to live without him.
“His passing has taught me to value the little things in life, especially friends and family,” Katelyn said. “To honor CJ’s memory, my family and I started CJ’s Smile to raise money to give back to the children at Rady Children’s Hospital to help create smiles on the faces of children going through what CJ had to.”
Chris said hearing CJ had cancer was devastating. Since his diagnosis in September of 2019, CJ underwent 42 weeks of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation. The tumors responded well to the treatment, and, in the summer of 2020, he was cancer free for two months. After a relapse, CJ was put back on chemo and radiation and had to have a gastrostomy tube inserted to ensure he was getting necessary nutrients. This treatment was to last about 240 days but ended early due to fluid in his lungs. He was yet again cancer free for another two months but sadly he relapsed and in September of 2021, the family was told the disease was not curable.
Stephanie said it was extremely difficult to tell CJ his condition was terminal. “He didn’t understand what exactly it meant,” she said. “But he was the best. He smiled a lot through it all, but he definitely had his fight and a lot of anger, too.”
Chris said his son’s cancer journey was difficult, especially in the beginning. “It was hard to watch him endure the things he went through that even most adults would have a hard time with,” he said. “He was one tough kid; people would tell me all the time that he is the toughest kid they know. He fought so hard for himself and it was just so heartbreaking to have to tell him the cancer came back both times he relapsed.”
The last time his parents tried to convince him to do chemo treatments, CJ asked what the point was if the cancer just kept coming back.
“That was the hardest thing to process knowing that he was done fighting,” Chris said. “He still tried, but in the end the cancer had spread so nothing was working.”
In mid-January, CJ underwent a three-hour MRI where it was discovered that the cancer had traveled to his bones.
Chris said, “In his last days he was in so much pain that nothing really helped except for the love we would give him and rubbing him constantly to help alleviate his hurt.”
CJ passed away on Jan. 30.
“He is now our forever hero,” Stephanie said.
To learn more about the nonprofit and its goals, visit www.cjssmile.com or on Facebook and Instagram @cjssmile.
