Awkward: Nine Year Old Bride Jayla Cooper’s “Final Wish” Was To Get Married Before She Died
24 February 2009, 3:41 PM. By Alex Alvarez
Jayla Cooper, age 9, was diagnosed with leukemia two years ago. As her health deteriorated and the Cooper family becamse aware that Jayla did not have long to live, they decided to grant her a final wish - to get married to her, um, childhood sweetheart, 7-year-old fellow cancer patient Jose Griggs.
Jayla met Jose while the two were patients at the Children’s Medical Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders in Dallas, Texas. Jayla said marrying Jose was her final wish because she totally loves him: “I love him, and it was just really important to me. I had fun dancing with my dad and with him and my granny.”
Which is lovely and all - love and friendship are nice things, we hear - but isn’t it a little worrisome that the two entered a (sometimes holy, always binding) covenant / contract which is characterized by, you know. Sex?
Jose, who is in the process of recovering from his own bout with leukemia, says it will be “hard” to let Jayla go. Says his mother, Charla Griggs: “He knows where she’s going, but he doesn’t want her to go. He’s seven years old and he’s having a hard time dealing with this.”
Our dad once forwarded us a poem for peace from “a little girl dying of cancer,” asking us to pass it to as many people that we could, as it was her final wish that people be annoyed and inconvenienced by a chain email. We got mad at our dad and told him not to believe this sort of crap because 1) we’re heartless and 2) we hate it when private pain is flounced publicly as a performance in need of an audience. We have the same feeling when it comes to this story. On the one hand, it must be very hard to know you are slowly losing a child and we can’t imagine how a girl as young as nine deals with the prospect of her own impending death. But now she’s brought another little boy into her very public portrayal of pain by choosing to speak to the media about this. Plus, like we said… Sitcom plot lines aside, marriage is constructed as an institution in which people have sex - to make kids, to have fun, to show love, whatever. We just can’t feel warm and fuzzy towards this story.
What do you guys think? Are we justified in feeling grossed out by this, or are we taking what amount to little more than a dying girl’s fancy tea party too seriously?
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It’s a tad inappropriate, not for the sex part, but because the parents are messing with these kids minds re the legitimacy and longevity of their marriage. That said, the kids are freaking cute and while it might not be best to parade them around for publicity, if it makes those two happy and feeling like they’ve accomplished something in life before they die then I think it’s totally cool.
I think you’re taking the fancy tea party too seriously. I got “married” in the soccer field in 3rd grade at recess. So she gets a real party, so what, she’s dying. Anything to make her happy while she’s still on earth,
This is a sweet story. As long as they are happy for the time they have left then it is all good.
Besides isn’t marriage all about “til death do you part”?
Ok ok! I’ll show myself out.
This was really… how does Guanabee say it… awko taco? My boyfriend said he used to have “weddings” when he was little to some neighbor girl. Their honeymoons were in the family van. Yes, he’s got commitment issues, but whether that’s because of the fake weddings or because he has a penis, I don’t know.
Aw, dejala.
This little girl wanted to experience the pageantry of a wedding ceremony. Both children knew they were participating in a pretend wedding. The preacher asked if they agreed to be friends forever. Don’t take a sweet girl’s dream and try to make it out to be something nefarious. The local news covered the “wedding” because they’ve covered other aspects of her story over the last two years. The national media picked up on it after the original story was shared by the ABC affiliate in Dallas. Half-assed reporting and re-writing of online stories doesn’t make you legitimate. The fact that only 6 people have commented probably tells us all we need to know about your readership statistics.
You do understand that putting down others - their opinions, their reporting, their half-asses (for shame, anonymous guest) - doesn’t do anything to bolster your own arguments. Right?
I’m going to stick by the fact that 7-year-olds getting married, whether they’re healthy, sick, whatever, is creepy. It’s play-acting an adult institution that’s based on very, very grown-up notions like commitment and performing the missionary every other Tuesday. What’s more, it’s sad to me, on a personal level, that a little girl’s last wish is not to become a famous author or make a beautiful painting or travel to a certain country or spend a day with her parents, or even her little friend, doing something fun - it’s to partake in an institution where the state of a woman’s hymen is paraded down an aisle before her father gives her to another man for safekeeping. I kept this out of the article because, obviously, that’s neither here nor there in terms of the story. But, yeah. The whole story makes me feel bad for this young girl in particular and for countless other girls in general. I don’t find it cute or charming in the least, and the fact that she is terminally ill doesn’t alter my opinion.
hot damn! you said it as well as it could be said, alex. marriage is totally creepy even without the parties involved being children. let’s be honest - this is AWKO TACO to the max.
I know that if my five year old daughter were dying of some horribly destructive disease, I would do anything I could to make that as painless as possible for her, even getting “married.” I think the parents are great for doing this, and it shows how much they love their child and want her to be happy, even in Heaven. Bless the parents, Jayla, and all the rest involved.
I live in Dallas and I’ve been keeping up with that story for a while now. While I do understand honoring a child’s dying wish, I think the wedding itself was taken a little overboard. This particular news clip is not the one I saw. The other clip showed the kids exchanging traditional vows that ended with a kiss on the lips. For me, that was awko taco.
However, all the other parts were cute. Those cute kids, their adorable clothes, the flowers… all that was cute. It was the very adult aspects thrown into the kid wedding that were odd to me, personally. But to each his own.
After reading the comments, I see I’m the minority in that line of thinking so I’ll see myself out as well. Fredo, where did you go?
I only saw the video posted here so I didn’t quite see the “adult” elements but it looked like a fun party honoring a young girl’s dying wish.. I wish both adorable kids a happy marriage. A wedding at their ages is kind of awko taco but for parents to bury their 9 and 7 year old is even more AWKO TACO…
as long as she didnt ask for a lesbian wedding, there isnt anything inappropriate!
so much for the “sanctity of marriage”
First of all, I think that some of the people who commented and wrote this article are some of the most ignorant people out there. I know Jayla and her parents, my baby brother was also in the hospital when Jayla was there. You guys need to realize that this is her LAST wish. These kids and their families arent thinking about them having sex and having kids, which by the way isn’t what marriage is all about. Jayla and Jose are best friends, they made vows to each other to always be best friends. This was done to make her happy atleast for this moment, which it did. Jayla is the sweetest most loving girl you could ever meet. Even through all the horrible stuff these kids have to go through everyday, she always has a smile on her face. I hope none of you guys have children and if you do I hope that you guys never hae to go through the horrible pain of loosing your child. Any parent that knew their child didnt have long to live and this was their childs last wish, they would do it without even thinking about it twice. When your child is dying you want to do everything to make them happy for those last few weeks. You guys need to educate yourselfs on childhood cancer. Go to the childrens hospital and visit the floor with all the cancer patients and then you tell me if you wouldn’t do anything to make those kids happy. You guys are really something else for thinking in the wrong way about this.
unfortunately Jayla lost her battle with leukemia last night at 1 am. May you rest in peace and never have to suffer again, now you are with my lil brother. We miss you guys!
all i can say is that i honestly hope that jayla’s parents don’t read the negative comments that are posted here. i think it is very bold and beyond arrogant for anyone to comment about this story when they were uneducated on the facts behind this entire event. jayla met jose in the hospital and had already started her journey to fight cancer and she helped jose face his battle and made him feel better about being in the hospital. jayla faced her death straight in the face and because she knew that she would never grow up and have a real wedding, she wanted to have a “friendship” wedding with jose. it was her promise to be his best friend forever, even though she would no longer be alive. jose is struggling with her death and this was her way to promise him that they would always be friends and that her death would never separate them. i knew this little girl and her family and they are some of the most courageous people i’ve ever known. jayla, at the age of 9, planned her own funeral. she picked the music, the scriptures and wanted a party planned for afterward. she wanted everyone to celebrate and have a good time. she didn’t want anyone to be sad. it’s a shame that our world is full of such ignorance. it’s a shame that people offer their ridiculous opinion having no idea what they would do if they faced burying their 9 year old.
My dad knew this girl. KNEW! Ya, she died! I thinks it cold hearted that yall are talking about sex and what yall think this wedding is putting into her mind. all of u are arrongant b****es! she knows that her wedding wasnt real! it was her last wish!
i think you need to remember the girl was DYING! she just wanted to have the experience of having a wedding i think its sweet and she new it wasnt real!