“This is a genetic illness hits one in 30,000 people. It’s a difficult and rare situation.” – Sharon Sechriest, Mom
21-year-old Preston Jackson and 18-year-old Parker Jackson live in Forest City, NC. Preston is a senior at UNC Charlotte. Parker is a senior at Chase High School and hopes to start at Wingate University in fall 2017. The two have a great deal in common including their love of sports and their passion for helping others. It’s not often we grant a Dream Experience to siblings, in fact, this will only be the second time ever. However, it’s also not often that one family is in the situation that the Jacksons’ have found themselves.
The boys’ father was diagnosed with cancer in 2014. A year later both Preston & Parker began experiencing similar symptoms, they didn’t waste any time digging deeper. Parker had a persistent cough so doctors finally sent him to the hospital for an endoscopy. Three days later he received the news that he tested positive for pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer. His older brother Preston was diagnosed with the same thing just six weeks after.
When we heard about the brothers and learned of their love of sports we needed to meet them. They enjoy basketball, football, baseball and soccer and their favorite players are Tim Tebow and Steph Curry. When asked why these athletes in particular stand out they replied, “it’s their passion and love of the sport, family and Christ.” It’s clear to see that these two young men possess those same values and it will be an honor to help make their sports dream come true. Keep fighting Preston and Parker, your team just got a little bigger!
