Weeks After Bailey and Jacobey Severns Welcomed Their Third Son, His Back Pain Turned Out to Be a Rare, Aggressive Cancer

Bailey and Jacobey Severns welcomed their third son in February 2026, joining two older brothers. Within weeks, the back pain that had nagged Jacobey for months grew much worse, and what followed was a diagnosis that turned out to be wrong. After a second opinion at Stanford, doctors concluded he has a rare, aggressive cancer that begins in the nerves.

The family’s story was first reported by Newsweek, which cited Bailey’s posts on TikTok and a GoFundMe page. That fundraiser, which a family member organized, also describes the corrected diagnosis.

A Third Son and Back Pain That Would Not Ease

According to Newsweek, Bailey is 25 and Jacobey is 27. Their boys are 7, 2 and the newborn. Jacobey’s lower back pain began in October 2025, and he assumed he had strained it at his physical job. He wore a back brace, but it did not help.

In March, after the baby was born, the pain intensified. Newsweek reports that doctors did not find his symptoms concerning at the time and did not order treatment. A similar theme runs through the site’s coverage of a teenager whose chest pain was dismissed as anxiety.

From an Ambulance Call to a Melanoma Diagnosis

In early May, Jacobey could not move, and Bailey called an ambulance. At the hospital, MRI and CT scans showed lesions on his lower spine and pelvis, and a biopsy followed. He was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic melanoma, a cancer that starts in pigment-producing cells.

Treatment began quickly. Newsweek reports that he received four rounds of immunotherapy and underwent four surgeries to stabilize his bones, including a spinal fusion in June, hip screws and a rod in his femur. Doctors told the family the tumors were pressing on his spine and that he could have been paralyzed without the operations. Even so, his pain worsened, he struggled to eat and he lost 35 pounds in a few weeks.

The couple had a newborn, a 2-year-old and a 7-year-old at home while Jacobey lost strength and weight.

A Second Opinion at Stanford Changes the Diagnosis

In September, the family moved to California so Jacobey could be seen by doctors at Stanford. Newsweek reports that they reviewed his biopsy and concluded the melanoma diagnosis was incorrect. He has a malignant melanotic nerve sheath tumor, a rare and aggressive cancer that begins in nerve roots. The family’s fundraising page for Jacobey says the same: Stanford doctors found the melanoma diagnosis was wrong and identified the rarer tumor.

Bailey told Newsweek her husband had been on the wrong treatment for about five months, and that the cancer had spread to more areas in that time. She described the couple as hurt, angry and scared when the new diagnosis came.

A cordotomy, a procedure through the side of the neck that cuts pain-carrying nerves, has since eased his pain significantly, according to the report. He has regained 20 pounds and uses a wheelchair while doing mobility exercises, though his back is still fractured.

What Is Known About Tumors Like This One

Cancers of the nerve sheath, the protective layer around nerves, are uncommon. The National Cancer Institute explains that malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors, a related and better-studied group, make up only 5% to 10% of sarcomas, can grow quickly and can spread. The institute says treatment may involve surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, ideally planned by a team of specialists.

The melanotic type is rarer still. A 2023 case report in Frontiers in Neurology on the closely related melanotic schwannoma notes that only about 200 cases had been reported worldwide. The authors say no recognized treatment guideline exists and that these tumors are easy to misdiagnose, because imaging cannot reliably tell them from common nerve tumors and immunohistochemistry is needed. That report covers a related tumor, not Jacobey’s case, but it helps explain why a biopsy can be read two ways.

Outcomes for nerve sheath cancers vary. The National Cancer Institute says they depend on tumor size, location and whether the cancer has spread, which is part of why specialist centers with experience in rare sarcomas matter. The institute also points patients toward the MyPART network, which helps connect people who have these tumors with experts and with a natural history study.

Looking for a Clinical Trial

Because the cancer is so rare, Newsweek says no one knows how well Jacobey’s current treatment will work, and the family hopes to find a suitable clinical trial. The National Cancer Institute describes clinical trials as “research studies that test how well new medical approaches work in people.”

That hope matters because the standard options are limited. With only a couple hundred reported cases of the closely related melanotic schwannoma and no recognized treatment guideline, doctors have little data to predict how one patient will respond. For the Severns family, that means taking each scan and each treatment cycle as it comes, while the boys are still very young.

Money is a pressure point. The fundraising page lists medical bills, lost income and the cost of treatment, and says the family is working to secure insurance coverage. Bailey told Newsweek the family’s goal is simply to save her husband’s life. Readers who follow stories of families facing cancer may also recall a Las Vegas mom who turned Halloween into a community feast for her son with brain cancer.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Jennifer Morrow from San Francisco – CC BY 2.0/Wikimedia Commons