HAVERHILL — Jacob Hurrell is a youngster of little words.
He prefers action, like crafting keychains out of yarn then selling them to help patients of the Cancer Management Center at Holy Family Hospital in Methuen pay for their treatments.
"I just want to help people," said Jacob, 6, the son of Bethany and Adam Hurrell of Haverhill. "I hope the money I raised will help people pay for their medicine."
Jacob, a first-grader at Golden Hill Elementary School, knew very little about cancer or the people who come to the cancer center where his mother is a receptionist until he began visiting her at work.
"He sees some of the same patients coming in and he's been asking questions about cancer, who gets cancer, why they get it and if he would have it someday," Bethany Hurrell said. "And he asks about the people who come in for chemotherapy, about the medicine they are getting, if they get it every day and how do they pay for it."
Jacob's parents talked about how best to answer his questions and explained that some people are less able to afford medicine than others. Jacob decided to help, and so began his "keychains for cancer" project.
"Around six months ago, my mom bought him a kit with a small plastic tube and a knitting needle. He wraps the yarn around the tube to make little things," Bethany Hurrell said. "We had all these little things — which Jacob calls snakes — all over the house and we didn't know what to do with them."
Rather then throw them out, Jacob's father bought a batch of metal key rings. The pairing of Jacob's crafted item and the rings made for a colorful keychain.
"He asked if he could sell them for $2 each and then donate the money to the cancer center," Bethany Hurrell said.
Jacob's first sale was to a family friend who was visiting.
"I told her I was selling them to raise money for cancer," Jacob said.
"For the cancer center," his chatty brother Zacahary added.
Family friends Larry Dudley and his wife Karen Dudley also were among the first to buy Jacob's keychains.
"When you hear about all the bad things in the news today, it's really refreshing to see this young man's accomplishment," said Larry Dudley, a member of the Haverhill Kiwanis.
"My wife sold a bunch of the keychains at work. Some people bought two or three when they learned what it was for."
The family set a goal of raising $50, but when they told friends, co=workers and other family members about Jacob's project it grew to the point where Jacob had collected $200. He planned to present the money to the cancer center this week.
"I think it's a lot of money," Jacob said. "I'm going to keep making them and this year I'm going to sell them at the Relay for Life."
"We couldn't be more proud of him," his parents said.
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