Helping Others, To Being Helped: Dispatcher Battles Cancer
HAMPTON (WCCO) -- A top Minnesota State Patrol dispatcher has spent his career helping others in emergency situations, but now needs a life-saving intervention of his own.
Jesse Brewington, 34, of Hampton, Minn. is the lead manager of the Roseville-based State Patrol 911 Center. Today, he is noticeably absent from the job, battling a rare form of stomach cancer.
Last November, doctors diagnosed Brewington with gastric carcinomatosis, which they say is incurable. Since the first symptoms appeared last summer, he has lost over 80 pounds.
That's when his co-workers sent out a national alert to 911 centers across the country, through the organization "911 Cares," asking for support and encouragement.
"People respond from all across the nation because one of us needs help," said Brewington's close friend and co-worker, Chris Jacobsen. "Usually, we are the ones getting calls for help -- we send help. Now, we are asking for help."
At his Hampton home on Wednesday, Brewington was sorting through stacks of cards, where strangers have sent prayers and positive thoughts. One card was from a police dispatch center in Georgia. People from all over the nation have posted well wishes on his CaringBridge page.
"I hope that I get an opportunity at some point to give that back," said Brewington.
Brewington and his fiancée, Karlyn Smith, hold on to the words of encouragement, after doctors spelled out a grim prognosis this past March, learning the cancer was spreading through his body.
"If there was 100 me's," said Brewington, "Two percent, two of us, would survive past a couple of months."
That's when Brewington and his fiancé vowed, that even if the cancer had spread, it would not move their wedding date, July 30, 2011. It is the seventh anniversary of their first date.
"When he was hospitalized, I thought I was just going to have to cancel everything, especially after that doctor said 60 days," said Smith. "That's all the longer they expected him to make it."
Smith now plans their wedding from hospital hallways, and took a break from her job to give Brewington the constant care he needs.
"I hated to find out this way, but I know for sure that Karlyn is my soul mate -- the perfect person for me. I know that beyond a doubt now," said Brewington.
With their eye still on their wedding date, the couple has sought alternative and additional treatment at the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care in Chicago. The costs of the medical bills are high, especially when both Brewington and Smith have taken leave from their jobs.
Brewington's fellow dispatchers have organized the "Benefit for Brewington" to help with those costs, on Saturday, May 7 at the Mermaid Supper Club and Banquet Center on 2200 County Road 10 in Mounds View, from 4 p.m. to midnight.
The proceeds from the $20 door charge directly help Brewington.
Checks can also be donated to:
Jesse Brewington Benefit Account
Eastwood Bank
109 South Mantorville Avenue
Kasson, MN 55944
