M'ville firefighters, police visit local girl

JoJo Giles, a local 7-year-old with a rare degenerative condition, received a visit from Marysville police and fire personnel on March 4 as she donated stuffed animals for kids in need.

At 3 years of age JoJo was diagnosed with Leigh syndrome, a rare degenerative disease which typically leads to death within two to three years.

At 6 years of age she was also diagnosed with Mid Aortic syndrome, which is a narrowing of several blood vessels.

Currently she is mostly blind, wheelchair bound, has a feeding tube and is on oxygen at night.

“JoJo has definitely progressed in her disease … but her love and thoughtfulness has continued to shine,” said Jessica Giles, JoJo’s mother.

For her most recent birthday JoJo wanted to give gifts out to kids in need.

“For her birthday, JoJo asked to have stuffed animals bought for her so that she could donate them to the fire department for kids that are facing an emergency situation, to have a little comfort and joy,” said Jessica Giles.

Over the past couple of years JoJo has shown a lot of appreciation for emergency services.

“Every time JoJo hears sirens she stops whatever she is doing, whether at a birthday party with friends, playing with toys, out at a store or even right out of surgery and in her own pain, she stops and prays for the safety of all involved,” said Jessica Giles.

She helped to collect donations of stuffed animals that would go to local first responders and “put love” into each of them by hugging and kissing them.

“This is actually a bigger deal then it even seems,” said Jessica Giles. “Her physical abilities make everything a little harder to do. A simple task like this can fatigue JoJo very easily to the point of not being able to breath correctly."

The Giles family contacted the local fire district to help set up a visit.

“Earlier, in about January, their family reached out to us,” said Christie Veley, public education and information specialist with the Marysville Fire District and one of the organizers of the visit. “They told us about JoJo and how much respect she had for her first responders."

At the time the visit had to be delayed a bit because of the large COVID wave the county was going through.

Eventually in March Marysville police and fire were able to stop by.

“The goal was to sort of bring JoJo her very own Touch-a-Truck,” said Veley.

“Then they did a drive-by parade of sorts with the lights flashing and JoJo waved as big as she could, which is also hard for her to do. It was a super fun day,” said Jessica Giles.

JoJo helped to put the stuffed animals into the back of some of the trucks that stopped by.

“We all went away with a sense of how impressive of a person she is,” said Veley. “It was great to see her provide for other kids who might be in a scary situation and need a little comfort."

Marysville police officers were also glad to be able to get out into the community.

“Anytime we can do something to help out someone like JoJo we want to be out there,” said Craig Bartl, one of the Marysville Police Department’s public information officers. “It’s good just to see the smile on her face while we’re visiting. That’s what we’re about. We want to be involved in the community."

JoJo is beginning her next collection effort now.

One of her favorite books is ‘Just Ask’ by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and artist Rafeal Lopez. The book is about accepting and learning about kids of all different abilities.

She hopes to hand out the book to other kids during her own hospital visits.

“JoJo is driven in her joy by her faith in God and that’s the light that she shines. Its not for attention, its not for praise, it’s a genuine heartfelt love for others,” said Jessica Giles.

People who want to donate can send copies of the book to Sound Harley Davidson in Marysville at 16212 Smokey Point Blvd, Marysville, WA 98271 with ‘Attn: JoJo’ on the envelope’s attention line.

More information about JoJo’s story can be found at https://bikers4jojo.com.