This is the story of Jacob Alexander Dinkins.
Jacob Alexander Dinkins came into this world on November 22, 1995. A bruiser: 9 lbs. and 4 oz. of apparent blustering baby health. But on his head, hands and feet, he had a rash doctors dismissed as harmless and ordinary. It was not. Unfortunately, at two months old, Jacob was diagnosed with Histiocytosis, a rare and, in his case, fatal disease of unknown cause in which white blood cells multiply wildly and attack skin, bones, lungs, and other organs.
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The disease is painful, so much so that Jacob became dependent on morphine in his 19 months to overcome the pain of two fractured vertebrae in his back, broken shoulders, and vicious attacks on his lungs, spleen and his liver. Instead of whimpering, Jacob triumphed. He was a happy kid, gurgling smiles. He was so snuggly that he would suck both thumbs while holding his blanket and his mother's hair - just to make sure she didn't get away. But it was not always smiles. At first chemotherapy seemed to work and Jacob required only 3 days of hospital care in his first six months of treatment. Then the disease moved to his lungs, returned to his bone marrow, and while hospitalized as a result of excruciating pain, Jacob suffered a harrowing 45-minute cardiac arrest. It would take Jacob over four months of hospital care before he fully recovered from the cardiac arrest. But his fight with the disease ultimately caused him to return to the hospital for nearly six months while suffer through another fractured vertebra, a fractured shoulder, a splenectomy, daily blood transfusions, continuos oxygen, and finally he became dependent upon morphine to breath free of pain. All along, Jacob never whined. If he hurt, he would lie very still. Mostly, he was happy. On June 18, 1997, while smiling at his mom and dad, Jacob went to sleep in an oxygen tent and died the following day at Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
It was his pain and suffering that would lead to the Jacob Open, and his ability to rise above every obstacle with a smile and a greater appreciation for life that spirits the event.
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