Trust God with Reckless Abandon! This was my husband Jim’s battle cry from the first he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in February of 2019 until he took his last breath, August 3, 2021. If you knew Jim, you know that he fought this devastating disease with every fiber of his being. He did it for me, for our four daughters, Madeline, MaryMargaret, Meredith, and MacKenzie, for his family, for his work family, for his friends, for everyone who knew him and yes, he did it for himself.

Jim fought so that he would live to see MaryMargaret graduate from high school and Meredith go to States with her tennis team senior year. He fought so he could see Madeline get engaged to Sam. He fought so he could cheer MacKenzie on in 7th grade basketball. He fought so he and I could ride our bikes together at the crack of dawn in the summer. He fought every single day. He fought hard and strategically as only Jim could. Life was good to us, God was and is good to us. Jim was blessed to live nearly 2 ½ years after his diagnosis. Most people diagnosed are not that blessed. Jim did get to see MaryMargaret graduate, and Meredith go to States. He cheered MacKenzie on in the middle school gym. He was there when, on bended knee, Sam proposed to Madeline.

But Jim didn’t get to walk Madeline down the aisle to marry Sam. He didn’t see MacKenzie play 8th grade basketball or make the varsity golf team as a freshman. He wasn’t there when I took Meredith to Benedictine College as a freshman or sophomore or junior, or when MaryMargaret graduated from Douglas J. Aveda Cosmetology School. He wasn’t there to teach MacKenzie how to drive, to see me in my mother of the bride dress putting Madeline’s veil on her, to put Meredith on a plane to study abroad, to congratulate MaryMargaret on her first career job.

Jim isn’t here for our everyday life anymore. He isn’t here for family dinners, carpools, weekly Mass, birthdays, our anniversary. He isn’t here to help me figure out buying a car or to clean out the basement after it floods. He isn’t here to plan a family vacation with me or to enjoy a family vacation with us. He isn’t here to get our taxes together. He isn’t here to hire contractors for landscaping or exterior painting or stupid stuff that happens to our house. You know how it goes in a marriage; these are the 'husband jobs.' 

Jim isn’t here to fix MacKenzie’s bike or take my car to the body shop after I hit a deer. He isn’t here to ask me if I am OK or to hold me until I stop shaking after I hit the deer. He isn’t here to tell me to stop procrastinating on ordering his headstone as I say to him “Do you not understand it is literally written in stone?” He isn’t here to tell me what sounds good for dinner or to make the bed with me or to say every single night to me, “Goodnight, my Love.”  Jim isn’t here for all those moments in life we took for granted for 30 years because pancreatic cancer’s 5-year survival rate is only 13%. Jim isn’t here because pancreatic cancer is winning.

I appeal to you today to honor Jim with a donation to my PurpleStride team. Team Trust God with Reckless Abandon for Jim Weeks will raise money for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network aka PanCan. When Jim was first diagnosed, I contacted PanCan and they immediately over-nighted a huge packet of useful information with everything from pancreatic cancer information to social support to dietary help to information for drug trials. Over the next 2-plus years I would reach out to PanCan regularly with questions for studies or referrals or chemo and radiation information. They ALWAYS responded within hours if not sooner. PanCan was an invaluable resource to Jim and me. Did I tell you that all these services are free?

PurpleStride teams raise money to fund vital research that can bring new treatment options to patients and to provide FREE, personalized, one-to-one support through PanCan Patient Services. I would be honored if you would donate to my team, Trust God with Reckless Abandon for Jim Weeks or even better, join our team on Saturday, April 27 in Troy, Michigan to walk to honor Jim and the thousands of other pancreatic cancer families across the country this day who are walking to honor the person who no longer can walk with their family.

Thank you all for your continued love and support for our family. We have a lot of ‘firsts’ left in our life and in Jim’s honor we choose to Trust God with Reckless Abandon. 

http://support.pancan.org/goto/JimWeeks