2008 Woodie Awards
PSU students called upon during time of mourning
Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: Opinion
As high school students, as junior high and elementary school students, it was often unthinkable that a peer could die. Those who did die young could not do so without leaving a shaken community behind.
With the recent passing of Brandon Jones, a 22-year old senior in construction management who lost his battle with Ewing's sarcoma last Thursday, we are reminded of how human frailty unites us all. Jones could have been any of us. The unfairness of his loss, while apparent and saddening, is something we might all one day have to come to terms with on a far more personal and immediate level.
And although Jones has passed, the difficulties and trials borne of his disease, of his fight, remain.
It was only recently that Jones told friends and members of his extended family that money was becoming a problem as it pertained to the increasing costs of his treatment. If those around him had only realized how little life he had left to live, perhaps the effort to "wrap up" the financial loose ends of his treatment would have been increased.
However, so much is left in the wake of Jones' death. This includes unpaid medical bills of which the balance is difficult for his mourners to meet.
This, his friends tell us, is exactly what Jones did not want to happen.
That's why we ask our readers to heed a very important call on Saturday, Feb. 23 and, through a fund-raiser in Jones' honor, help Jones' loved ones pay his hospital bills and final expenses. The event, which will be open to the public, will be held at 4 p.m. at the Girard American Legion.
There can be no better - or at least more practical - way to honor Jones' memory than by helping in some small way to ease the burden of those who are already carrying the pain of his loss. By helping to meet their financial needs, we are not only remembering that the book has yet to be closed on Jones' story, but that the community he left behind knows well the weight of his loss, and just how close that loss hits home.
With the recent passing of Brandon Jones, a 22-year old senior in construction management who lost his battle with Ewing's sarcoma last Thursday, we are reminded of how human frailty unites us all. Jones could have been any of us. The unfairness of his loss, while apparent and saddening, is something we might all one day have to come to terms with on a far more personal and immediate level.
And although Jones has passed, the difficulties and trials borne of his disease, of his fight, remain.
It was only recently that Jones told friends and members of his extended family that money was becoming a problem as it pertained to the increasing costs of his treatment. If those around him had only realized how little life he had left to live, perhaps the effort to "wrap up" the financial loose ends of his treatment would have been increased.
However, so much is left in the wake of Jones' death. This includes unpaid medical bills of which the balance is difficult for his mourners to meet.
This, his friends tell us, is exactly what Jones did not want to happen.
That's why we ask our readers to heed a very important call on Saturday, Feb. 23 and, through a fund-raiser in Jones' honor, help Jones' loved ones pay his hospital bills and final expenses. The event, which will be open to the public, will be held at 4 p.m. at the Girard American Legion.
There can be no better - or at least more practical - way to honor Jones' memory than by helping in some small way to ease the burden of those who are already carrying the pain of his loss. By helping to meet their financial needs, we are not only remembering that the book has yet to be closed on Jones' story, but that the community he left behind knows well the weight of his loss, and just how close that loss hits home.
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