Jason Weathers

When I decided I was going to participate in Team in Training, the original plan was to do it in memory of Patricia Fuhrmeister, and in honor of Jason Weathers. That was late June and Jason was battling, and I was just waiting for an opportunity to mention this to him and make sure he was okay being our honored patient. I never had that chance as an unexpected turn of events resulted in Jason's complete healing as he has joined our Lord on July 12, 2008.

I have not talked to Stephanie about remembering Jason, but through her brother Scott, understand she is encouraged that we may use his story to raise awareness about this cruel disease and raise money in hopes that we may one day find the cure.

Again, other people are much better at telling these stories. I have copies the story Stephanie wrote on Caring Bridge and pasted it here:
Jason was united with his Savior on July 12th at 10:32 p.m. Our hearts are broken, but we rejoice that J now has experienced COMPLETE HEALING! If you would like to contribute to his legacy, we welcome gifts to the Jason Weathers Education Trust for the future education of his three precious children. Jason Weathers Education Trust775 Ridge Lake Blvd.Suite 180Memphis, TN 38120

Jason and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary on February 28th. We dated six years prior to getting married. We met when we were juniors in high school at Temple Baptist Church. When we married, we had our whole life planned out! Even the names of our kids. Isn't God funny? NOTHING that we planned has happened except for God blessing us with children! Jason applied for dental school for a couple of years after completing his B.S. in Biology from the University of Southern Miss. The Lord did not see fit for Jason to go in that direction. After much praying, Jason decided to go to nursing school. He completed nursing school at USM and began to work at Forrest General in ICU with hopes of attending Nurse Anesthesia school after gaining critical care experience that is required. During this time the Lord blessed us with 2 beautiful children, Anna Lea and three years later, Jon Brent.
Once he gained critical care experience he began to apply to graduate schools all over the country. One of the schools he applied to was Wolford College in Naples, FL. I remember thinking to myself, "way TOO far from Hattiesburg!" I prayed fervently that another school closer to Hattiesburg would work out. Of course, God had another plan. Off to Naples we went. Jason was so excited to finally be working toward what would be his life long profession. I must admit I was not overly thrilled (an understatement for those that know me well) about moving that far away. There were many hard days in Naples, but the Lord taught us great things about depending on him completely. Jason loved school and those that were affiliated with the school. Soon we became active at First Baptist, Naples and what a blessing that church was and continues to be to us. Anna Lea started school at First Baptist Academy, which was an even greater blessing. After a year of living in Naples, the Lord opened the door for us to return to Hattiesburg once Jason completed the graduate program. We were so excited about the door the Lord had opened! We were enjoying Naples, but looking so forward to moving back home for Jason to work with Hattiesburg Clinic Anesthesia. Jason was to graduate in May of 2008 and start to work on June 1st. This past summer we discovered another little plan the Lord had for us. We were going to have a 3rd child. What a surprise! We knew it would be tough, but here again trusted the Lord's greater plan.
So, how did we get to this point? Jason began to run a fever the week of Christmas with no other symptoms. After receiving a week of antibiotics and still running fever, I insisted that Jason go back to the doctor to have blood work done. On Sunday, January 6, at the Naples Urgent Care, Jason called me with the dreaded news. The physician that read the blood work said it was imperative that he be seen by an oncologist over the next 24 hours. We decided that rather than him see someone in Naples, he must come home to be seen by Dr. Bellare, whom we have known for years. On Monday, January 7th, Jason flew home to be seen and further tested. We will never forget that day as long as we live. Dr. Bellare told us that he believed Jason had acute myeloid leukemia, but he must do a bone marrow biopsy to confirm. He sent us directly to Forrest General to be admitted, but before he did that he shared scripture with us and had prayer. No, this isn't the plan we had, but we knew without a shadow of a doubt that the Lord was holding us tightly. We know even now that HE will carry us through this entire journey. God has blessed us so much over the last 10 years of marriage and for that we are eternally grateful. We trust that through this most difficult journey that HE will receive glory and honor.

It is because of Jason and Tricia that I became involved in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Please continue to pray for both of these families as each day is still a struggle. May God grant you peace and strength.

July 17 - Encouraged

Rachael and I went to a fundraiser last night for three of the participants in Team in Training that are running in Chicago in October. I was able to talk with one of the coaches for a while. Apparently nobody really runs the whole marathon. Most people use some type of interval for almost the whole thing. They train by running 5 minutes and then walking 2 minutes. I am still hoping to get to where I can run 5 minutes......

This morning was just 30 minutes of walking. I was feeling pretty good, so I decided to run on 2 of the flat/downhill parts. On the first one, comfortably ran almost 4 minutes until I got to the start of the big hill and walked it. I also finished with a little run of about 1 1/2 minutes. My foot was good a sore this morning and all day. I hope the new/custom shoe inserts will be here soon and make a difference. Still able to log 1.9 miles today. Still looking for a flatter place to run. By the way - I finally ran enough cumulative miles to equal the actual marathon. I hope I can run in less than 13 days in January.

Cumulative miles since the start of training: 26.85 miles