Wes Attebury Foundation

The Weekend for Wes staff wants to send out a big thank you out to Dennis Jones for writing this testimonial on behalf of his brother Daryl Jones, who we were able to help through your donations to the Wes Attebury Foundation.  We encourage all families that feel compelled to write a testimonial on how the Wes Attebury Foundation helped them to do so.

DARYL JONES – TESTIMONIAL

I’m writing this testimonial in honor of my brother, Daryl Jones (39) of Evansville, IN. Whom through his life impacted the lives of many, and through his death revealed to all the hand of God.

Daryl lived life where he focused his attention on his family.  He loved his four children, each one of them held a special place in his heart. He loved spending time with his children teaching and guiding them every chance he could. He utilized every moment he could to impact their lives and I trust their behavior will reflect that as they continue to grow, honoring their dad through their live.

The story behind Daryl’s death to Melanoma is one that is stained by a lack of knowledge to Melanoma and how dangerous it truly is. Daryl placed a lot of trust in his family doctor; who failed to properly test the growth that developed on his birthmark. This is where the Melanoma that took his life originated. It does no good to point fingers at this point, as a family we’re practicing what Daryl taught us. That God’s sovereignty is into the details of all of our lives and that all we can do is trust in Him.

So, you’re likely wondering how Daryl discovered the Melanoma. While Daryl was working at a local moving company, he was forced to stop working due to what the family thought was a slipped disk in his lower back. As time progressed and his health continued to get worse, he continued to seek medical attention. Unfortunately, the attention brought to Daryl’s condition was being focused on his back pain and not the underlining condition creating the problem. Therefore, Daryl would simply be released with a bandaged up ankle and pain meds for his back. As Daryl continued to progressively get worse, our mother decided to take matters into her own hands. She called Deaconess Gateway Emergency Room in October of 2011 to explain Daryl’s condition. She also expressed how she didn’t think Daryl was being properly treated by the other medical facilities, due to him not having medical insurance. In desperation, she pleaded for the medical professionals there to help him.

Gateway urged our mother to bring Daryl in immediately, where after a series of test they learned that Daryl already had stage four Melanoma. The entire family was in shock of this news! We couldn’t understand why this was just being discovered. But, regardless of the details we knew that Daryl was in a battle for his life. During this battle, the faith that Daryl had in the Sovereignty of God was a testimony that everyone around him was blessed by. His trust was in Christ to work out the details, regardless of what happened. He chose to face this battle one day at a time and when that seemed to be too much he would tackle it one hour at a time. After a few short months Daryl lost his battle to Melanoma, where on January 4^th, 2012 he went home to be with the Lord.

He left behind a loving wife of 18years, Linda Kirk Jones, a daughter Tiffany (17) and three sons: Tyler (13), Brandon (12) & Bruce (8).

After the loss of Daryl we as a family had to deal with the reality that we had to plan his funeral. Considering the emotional trauma the entire family was enduring, I decided it best for me to take charge and move forward with planning my brother’s funeral. So, I contacted my church pastor for advice. He referred me to Ziemer’s Funeral Home, who due to their relationship with our pastor gave us an immediate discount right off the top. But, even after the discount I walked out of the funeral home scratching my head on how I was going to come up with the remaining charges that exceeded seven thousand dollars. Then as I walked into my mother’s house to update them on the funeral details, I was quickly approached by my sister. Who excitingly revealed to me that the Wes Attebury Foundation just donated five thousand dollars towards Daryl’s funeral expenses. I was stunned! I just stood there and wept with joy. The good Lord revealed to me at that moment that I wasn’t going to come up with any of the monies needed for Daryl’s funeral, because He had it all under control. It was like a domino effect from that point. Everything from the burial plot to the expense from the funeral was completely paid for by individuals God set into place to meet our need. The hand of God was obviously at work during those days, working out every detail that we as a family needed assistance with. I’ve personally have never experienced anything of that magnitude up to that point. My prayer throughout this whole ordeal was for God to reveal Himself to those that need Him as their personal savior; it’s safe to say He did just that.

As a family we are very grateful to everyone who listened to what God was asking of them during the time our family was in desperate need.  The donation made by the Wes Attebury Foundation was a pivotal donation. It’s clear that without that donation, the funeral our family was blessed to have in honor of Daryl would have been drastically different. Therefore, as a family we all would like to thank the Wes Attebury Foundation for everything they do through-out the year to be able to help families like ours who has lost a loved one to the beast in Melanoma. Anyone who is able to financially contribute to this foundation, please prayerfully consider doing so. This foundation not only helps families in need, such as ours. But, they also educate the public to the dangers of Melanoma. I trust with more funds they would be able to educate even more of the public.

Daryl’s life clearly impacted many people; this became clear to everyone during the last days of his life. Therefore, as a family we would like to share a few additional photo’s of Daryl during his life. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him, we all love you Daryl!

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Written By: Dennis Jones (Daryl’s Brother)