Bayonne Rallies Big for Jack Hogan’s Vision

Five-year-old Jack Hogan has stolen the hearts of Bayonne, New Jersey. When his parents, Jeanette and Shawn, formed a VisionWalk team to raise money for research to cure the retinitis pigmentosa that’s stealing his vision, they reached out to their friends and family, but never did they expect the flood of support they got from their local community."

After all was said and done, Team Jack Attack raised $55,000 for the 2010 New York City VisionWalk. Much of the money came from 2,000 individual donors, who knew the Hogan family through Jack’s school, sports leagues, and as Jeanette says “friends and family of friends and family.” Their walk team was so large, the Hogans needed two busses to transport 90 walkers from their home in Bayonne to the walk site in Central Park. More than 140 people walked with Team Jack Attack on May 23, 2010.

“You see, everybody likes Jack,” explains Shawn. “He’s got a great personality.”

“He’s not shy with strangers, and he is very fun and loving,” adds Jeanette. “He’ll say, ‘Mommy, I really like your shirt today. It is so pretty.’ What five year-old says that?”

Not only did Jack do the ribbon-cutting for VisionWalk, he stood up in front of hundreds of people at a fundraising poker tournament to thank them for, as he says, “helping to fix my eyes.” The poker event was hosted by the Bayonne Police Emerald Society, which was inspired to support VisionWalk in part because Shawn is a Bayonne police officer. More than 200 people donated or participated in the tournament.

The Bayonne Cal Ripken Baseball League also donated some of the proceeds of their parents’ “Beefsteak” dinner to support Team Jack Attack. “The dinner is normally just a night out for the players’ parents to relax,” says Jeanette. “We didn’t ask for them to do it. We didn’t reach out to them. They just did it on their own. It’s just amazing. They even raffled off a pair of Yankees tickets.”

Jack was only two-and-a-half years old when his parents started taking him to doctors to determine why he was having trouble seeing in the dark, and falling down stairs and running into walls. A few months later, he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa.

Jeanette says that it was difficult to learn that he had a vision-robbing condition for which there was no treatment, and that there was a chance that the Hogan’s two younger boys, Owen and Cole, could be diagnosed with it, as well. “We just go day to day with it like everyone else does with their children,” says Jeanette. “We sign Jack up for sports, and he loves baseball, soccer, and floor hockey just like every other little boy. He is learning Braille and knows the whole alphabet now. Whatever words he’s learning in the classroom, he’s learning in Braille. In case he does lose his sight, he’ll be ready.”

In the meantime, Shawn and Jeanette are active with the Foundation’s Northern New Jersey Chapter, learning all they can about research at local chapter meetings and presentations. And while they felt helpless when Jack was first diagnosed with RP, they take heart in knowing that they can help drive the research, and that their neighbors and friends stand with them in their quest for a cure. “Bayonne people are good,” says Shawn. “It’s great to be a part of this community.”