I have known Jason Cherish, Saint Louis ’03, for 10 years. Jason and I met at SigEp Headquarters in the summer of 2003. We had both just graduated and reported to Richmond for regional director summer development. Jason and I served the Fraternity first as RDs and then co-expansion directors. We spent nearly two and a half years traveling the country together, living out of our suitcases and in close quarters. We got to know each other so well that we could finish each other’s sentences.

I was deeply shocked when I heard Jason developed colon cancer, a rarity for a man in his early 30s. It required particularly invasive treatment. All of Jason’s friends and family took the news hard. While unhappy with the news, Jason decided early on that he was going live; live in the sense that he refused to let cancer steal the enjoyment from his life. Jason also decided that he was going to do battle with cancer. He said “all I wanted to do was counter-attack immediately with overwhelming ferocity, and let the chips fall where they may.”

Jason started his fight by selecting his “board of directors.” These people, many of them SigEp brothers, advised and assisted Jason as he navigated the tangled web of hospitals, doctors and cancer treatment. Brothers like National Board members Shawn McKenna, Maine ’77, and Phil Cox, Indiana ’84, offered Cherish great comfort and insight, drawing upon their own experiences battling the disease. Mike Felmlee, CEO of Jeff Prouty’s (Iowa State ’79), company the Prouty Project, has high level connections at the Mayo Clinic and got Jason on the phone with a world class expert who helped him understand where to begin. Ryan Blanck, Western Michigan ’02, pitched in by keeping everyone updated on Jason’s status.

Jason was surrounded with tremendous support from friends, family and SigEp brothers, but, make no mistake, the battle was Jason’s to fight. Ultimately his attitude and sheer toughness is the reason Jason’s body is cancer free just two years later.

Maybe the most impressive thing to me is that, throughout Jason’s entire ordeal, he has refused to play the victim. Using Jason’s own words “I just refuse to believe that I exist at the mercy of my circumstances. I’m not going to complain about how the universe pushes on me, I’m going to push back.” In a world that is quick to blame circumstances and declare unfairness, a world where it’s everyone’s fault but your own, it is refreshing to know a man who doesn’t focus on how the deck is stacked against him, but plays the hand he is dealt and plays it well.

Jason will tell you that he is not trying to be anyone’s hero; he will tell you that many others have faced tougher odds and been in tighter spots. You will never hear Jason say that he is special or inspirational. You will, however, hear those very things about Jason from everyone else who knows him. I thank God for this amazing human being, for his toughness, tenacity and red neck country blood. Jason is still here today because of those very qualities.

I can’t fully explain to you how grateful I am that Jason has won this battle, because I don’t want to imagine a world without him.