A viral Cape Cod TikToker is facing homelessness after mother’s death

You may recognize 28-year-old Cape Cod resident Cody Jacob from his viral TikTok video talking about his discovery that his mattress is made of fiberglass.

What you probably don’t know is that, in December 2022 when he posted the video, he had been working as a full-time caregiver for his mother, who was dying of brittle diabetes complications, for over two years.

Jacob’s mother, Leanne Munroe, died a few months after the video was posted, leading to a situation in which her son was unexpectedly forced from his home.

Jacob is now raising money to buy himself a trailer in the hopes that it will be a permanent home where he’ll have more space and freedom to create content for his nearly 500,000 followers on TikTok.

Giving up college

In March 2020, Jacob was attending Berklee College of Music in Boston on a full scholarship. Originally, he had planned to continue on at the school in a dual degree master’s program.

But as Jacob prepared to graduate, it became harder and harder for him to ignore the fact that his mother, who lived alone in his childhood home in Brewster, was struggling to survive on her own.

“My mom was sick for nearly 20 years, and I could see it getting worse and worse,” he said. “Once it got to the point where she was calling me and saying ‘I need food. We don’t have heat. I can’t go to the grocery store,’ I was like, ‘I can’t be here. This is a waste of my time.‘”

In the absence of any other family members volunteering to help his mother as much as she needed, Jacob made the difficult to decision to forgo graduation, move back home and become her caregiver.

But once Jacob returned home, he soon discovered that his mother’s health was rapidly declining. He was quickly forced to reckon with the fact that he likely wouldn’t be caring for her for as long as he’d imagined.

Taking care of mom

Jacob’s life shifted from that of a young professional in Boston to one marked by an endless stream of hospital visits, checks on his mother every 30 minutes and household chores. Meanwhile, his mother began losing weight, sleeping much of the day and battled various and mysterious illnesses.

“My days just became hers, whatever she needed,” he said.

At first, Jacob tried to keep earning money. But by the end of the year, he realized his mother needed so much help that he did not have time to work outside the home.

The mother and son became reliant on government benefits, most of which went towards paying for necessities and exorbitant medical bills.

Hanging out with friends also became impossible for Jacob, leaving him feeling angry and isolated.

“I can’t go get coffee with my friends. What if she falls out of bed?

At times, Jacob said, he felt like he was being punished. He had gone from days filled with music to days filled with the silence of his lonely bedroom.

“Why is this happening to me? Why is this happening to her?” he said. “It just became this feeling of like, ‘Am I really going to sit in silence for the rest of my mother’s life as I get to watch her die?’ That’s what every day felt like.”

The good times

But at the end of the day, Jacob wanted to “keep” his mom more than anything else, he said. And caring for his dying mother wasn’t all darkness and despair.

Munroe loved hearing him sing, and once they developed a routine, music came back into his life. He regularly sang Jack Johnson and Ted Nugent to his mother, and “Uncharted” by Sara Bareilles became go-to.

“In my mom’s mind, I was Michael Jackson, and then also every other member of the Jackson Five,” he said.

Jacob also began to get creative in finding ways to have fun with his mother despite the fact that she couldn’t walk to the bathroom without his help.

Together, the two made some of their best memories together, such as the day they adopted their dog, Boo.

“It felt normal. It didn’t feel like I had a sick parent,” he said. “It felt like I was her son, and she was my mom.”

Though leaving the house to visit friends was not an option, Jacob’s longtime friend, LeVane Harrington, whom he’d graduated Nauset High School with, FaceTimed with the mother and son nearly every day to show his support for his chosen family.

Despite Munroe’s dramatic weight loss, she always maintained her signature “chipper” attitude when talking to Harrington, he said. In fact, she often seemed more worried about Harrington than herself.

Even as Munroe stared down her greatest fear — death — the former hair dresser maintained her dignity by continuing to dye and brush her hair, cook food and weave crosses to sell to local churches. She always found ways to bring purpose and meaning to her life and give back to her community, her son said.

“She always felt like she had this important life to live,” Jacob said.

Becoming a TikToker

Within a few months of returning home, Jacob’s TikTok account began to gain popularity as he made videos on pop culture, history, news and the internet in his spare time.

He first reached a million views on a video in the summer of 2020, and after about a year, he began earning around $20,000 per month through TikTok Rewards and being offered brand deals.

Suddenly, Jacob had an unexpected career that he loved, and seeing the connection he had his fans brought joy to his mother.

“It literally gave us the world back,” he said.

At the time, Harrington was living in New York City, but even he noticed Jacob’s rise to fame on TikTok and natural talent for the medium. He said his friends would unknowingly show him one of Jacob’s videos because they thought he was funny, only for Harrington to respond with “that’s my best friend.”

“I know his audience is across the world, but reaching people I knew in New York and I was friends with in New York was super, super cool,” Harrington said.

But Jacob was always careful never to show his mother on camera or talk about having a sick parent. Munroe didn’t like people knowing she was ill, and he respected her wishes.

As a result, Jacob’s TikTok followers remained in the dark about his situation.

Reaching the end

At times, it seemed like Munroe might live another decade, Jacob said. But in June 2023, her weight loss prevented her doctors from being able to continue the treatment she needed.

When Jacob returned home in March 2020, his mother weighed 110, he said. By the time she died, she weighed approximately half that.

At this point, Munroe was in agony much of the time, Jacob said. She also struggled with the constant depletion of her independence.

“The weight of her own body was just too much,“ he said. ”She couldn’t roll over in bed, couldn’t sit up in bed. She lost the ability to open her mouth to chew. She lost the ability to suck through a straw.”

It was at this point that Munroe accepted her fate, Jacob said. She told her son in no uncertain terms that she knew she was going to die and was going to “stop fighting.”

“I think once she was given the green flag to just rest, she just took it,” he said.

Weeks later, on July 20, 2023, Munroe said goodbye to her son by repeating the words “I love you” over and over again while she lay in bed. Within minutes, she died surrounded by family at the age of 58.

Life after Leanne

After his mother’s death, Jacob was left wondering what to do with his life. He didn’t even know what he liked to do for fun anymore, and he struggled with guilt, wondering whether he’d cared for his mother well enough.

But eventually, Jacob made peace with what happened, and began focusing on his career as a TikToker.

“You have no idea what you’re capable of doing or figuring out or surviving until you’re thrown in the middle of it,” he said.

His peace was jeopardized a few months later when Jacob discovered that his mother hadn’t owned their home.

Jacob left the house, finding himself without a permanent home. He quickly found a short-term living arrangement staying in the home of a friend who only lives on the Cape for part of the year, but knew he could not stay there forever.

He has also struggled with his TikTok account becoming demonetized, and sometimes lacks a regular income.

Jacob’s difficulty finding a permanent home is what led him to start an AngelLink fundraiser in the hopes that he might raise enough money to buy a trailer. So far, he’s raised just over $4,600 of his $50,000 goal.

“I’m doing this to show how powerful community can be, and that it’s okay to ask for help,” he said.

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