‘He wanted everyone to know
that he had a perfect life.’
Tim Bright died on Saturday, Oct.
4, after a four-and-a-half year battle with cancer. The Riverside
High and University of South Carolina baseball standout, who
alongside his wife Jenny founded the Brightlife organization to
support cancer research, was 32.
His death stirred up a well of
grief in me that I was told shaded everyone in my path for the next
few days. He was a former co-worker. He coached my son in travel
baseball. But he wasn’t my son or my brother, so why did the grief
swallow me up? It’s not an easy question to answer. The best one I
can give is rooted in the way Tim lived his life and the way he
invited me and anyone else who would listen to invest in
relationships and living even when we are unsure of the ending.
When Jenny and Tim asked me to
pray, I prayed. I didn’t merely mention them in passing. I prayed
the kind of prayers born out of love, believing all things, hoping
all things. I took it on as a mantel. He was supposed to be one of
the miracles. He had cancer for nearly five years and yet his death
caught me off guard.
I began telling Tim’s cancer
story in 2010 for The Greer Citizen when we were asked to write
Christmas stories that featured a different side of the holidays.
With trepidation, I asked Tim and Jenny to tell me how they would
spend Christmas, knowing that they had just found out that the colon
cancer had returned a mere three months after it was defeated and
this time in his lungs. They were grappling with the new truth that
chemotherapy would be a part of their story until a cure for Tim was
found. I shouldn’t have been worried. They thought it was a great
idea.
They gave up their Saturday
morning to meet me at Broadway Bagel for breakfast. With hope and
determination, they decided to spend their first Christmas as husband
and wife without chemo. It could wait until January. And they decided
together to become vocal about their story. They wanted to share it
and help others in similar circumstances.
When Tim called in 2012 and asked
if I would write a story about Tee it Up for Cancer, Brightlife’s
golf tournament fundraiser, I eagerly agreed. The tournament brought
in thousands of dollars for the Institute of Translational Oncology
Research (iTOR), a clinical research group founded by Tim’s
doctors. The next year, we met again to write about the 2013 Tee it
Up tournament.
I also wrote about the time his
brother Steven caddied for him at the BMW Pro-Am event. Steven asked
officials for a waiver into the prestigious tournament just to put a
smile on his big brother’s face. Tim, who had undergone a biopsy on
his lung just two weeks before, thanked his brother by making sure
his bag wasn’t too heavy to carry since the brothers refused the
golf cart they were offered.
Tim’s memorial service was last
weekend and the very large auditorium at First Baptist Church
Greenville was packed with people. It was a testament to Tim and
Jenny’s willingness to tell their story in all of its ups and
downs. We all wanted to solemnly applaud their bravery and show Jenny
how grateful we are that she shared Tim with us.
In a very poignant tribute, Steven
caddied for his brother one last time. This time, instead of carrying
golf clubs, he opened the pages of Tim’s journal. He said that Tim
had written that he wanted everyone to know that he had a perfect
life. If he helped one person along the way, it was worth it.
By sharing his battle and giving
others hope, Tim showed us all that life is not about living as
individuals, but about investing in relationships and sharing in the
nitty gritty of life. His legacy is this: share your story in such a
way that everyone in your path wants to be a part of it. The
investment in others, though painful at times, is worth it.
We all wanted a happy ending, but
perhaps another young cancer patient said it best not long before she
died. “Maybe it’s not about the happy ending,” she said, “but
about the story.”
You gave us one heck of a story
Tim.
This tribute first appeared in The Greer Citizen, Oct. 15, 2014.
Visit www.storyoftim.blogspot.com for more of Tim and Jenny's story.
