Saturday, December 10, 2011

Prayers for my Uncle

Please be in prayer for my uncle Jack (Beuford). He and my dad just found each other last Dec after nearly 40 years apart. Jack was placed for adoption when he was 2 by my grandmother yet she and the adoptive parents stayed in contact. Dad grew up knowing him as Beuford, though he was called Jack at home. They hung out as teens and even into their 20s (after my parents married).

Grandma also placed 2 other children at the same time - and older daughter and a newborn. I'll share more on this later

Well, Jack found out Thursday that he has colon cancer. He called dad Saturday night and said that surgery would be Mon morning. This was too short of a notice for us to travel to see him before surgery. I talked to his wife (I don't remember her name - met her once in May) and she said that they got all the cancer and the best news was they were able to reconnect the colon without any problem. He didn't have to have a colostomy bag. This was one of Jack's biggest worries (and one that I fully understand).

He should be in the hospital till Sunday or Monday if all goes well. Uncle Jack does have a drug problem. He admitts freely that he smokes pot on a daily basis (he says it is for pain). He and his wife both grew up in that and lived the hippie lifestyle. I don't know how the pain meds are going to affect him and then having withdrawls from pot. I am just praying that this doesn't mess him up badly. He is 73 years old.


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When my grandmother placed Aunt Shirley, Uncle Beuford, and Uncle David for adoption, she was a single mother (husband was in prision for a year and a day for bootlegging), so she divorced him and moved in with her mother and step father. Aunt Shirley was around 5, Uncle Beuford(Jack) was 2, and Uncle David was around 3 months.

Shirley went into a girls home because she was older. Beuford/Jack and David were taken by 2 families that knew my grandma. David's family moved shortly after to south Fl and there was very little contact. Jack grew up around the area or within an hours drive so they stayed in contact every few months.

My grandma was forced to place her children by her mother. She was ill (and in a wheelchair) and her husband was crippled. We later found out she had rheumetoid arthritis. Shortly after she placed the 3, she was pregnant again with my dad. She got married and together they took care of grandma's mom.

Aunt Shirley had the worst part. SHe was placed in foster care. Over the years, she endured abuse. She was even a witness to a murder. This is when my grandma/granddad stepped up. They got a lawyer and requested that she come back to them and she was adopted by my granddad. By this time, dad was around 6 and had a baby sister (Aunt Sharleene).

We lost Aunt Shirley to cancer in 01, Aunt Sharleene to cancer in 06. Jack had throat cancer in the 70's and survived. Now dx with colon cancer. Uncle David, so far no news of cancer. We just found him in late Jan and haven't had to face to face meeting yet, but several phone calls and many emails.

We are hoping that we can get the family together soon after the holiday's down in Fl.

And it turns out that my dad and David might have the same father instead of the man dad grew up knowing as father (he was told this as a child by his aunt many times). Dad and Uncle David are the spitting images of each other.

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