It is with great sorrow that I write this message. A supporter of ours has passed away. Bryon Pastian served in the United States Marine Corps from 1998 to 2008, including tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2007, a tumor was discovered in Bryon’s brain. Treatment had been deemed successful and he went into remission for 5 years. On his birthday in 2012, Bryon was told that the cancer had come back.
Bryon wrote this promise card in May of this year. I spoke to him on the phone about his promise. I can remember the sound of his voice. He sounded like a good man. A month later, on June 11th, Bryon Otto Pastian went down swinging.
Some promises we die trying to keep. A promise to protect your country. A promise to never give up.
To Bryon’s friends and family, I am so very sorry for your loss. Please accept my deepest condolences.
VIDEO: Jets flying over Bryon’s service
I am so sorry that Brian lost his ultimate fight. I thank him from the bottom of my heart for serving our country and working to keep us safe. I am sure there is a very special place in Heaven for him.
To his family, I know there are no words to console you at this time. Just know, please, that you and Brian are in the hearts and prayers of many. I pray too that there will soon be a cure for this horrific disease. My mother died of leukemia 6 weeks to the day of diagnosis. May the Lord inspire the doctors and scientists that try to conquer this monster that takes the lives of so many good people. God Bless!
SEMPER FI!
His life was stolen from him. With no thought of how young he was, the good things, he had done, or the potential in him, to do more good things, and even great things. The pain and suffering he endured, is ended for him, but not so, for his parents, family, and friends, who will go on, but sadly without him. To say we need a cure for cancer, is obvious, to say it is frustrating that it has been found, is also obvious. Having lost multiple family members, to this same thief of life, knowing the hopelessness felt by all,and their prayers that their loved one would be saved, having felt all of the ups and downs, family feels at times like this, I pray they don’t continue to think of what they will miss, about him, but remember all they had with him in their lives. To Bryon, goes my regret, that his life was cut short, and the honor I feel, for his service to our country. To his loved ones, the sympathy I feel for your loss.