God Is Good All Of The Time- Even In Death

This is a little long but God is worth it and all the glory goes to him because miracles still happen. What a crazy past several weeks. In July, my brother from another mother, Beau Mathis, had a procedure to enlarge his esophagus so he could try to eat and gain a little weight. The week before he and I and his wife, June, were meeting with a representative from The Neptune Society to go over final details and cremation.

Almost a week after the procedure, he finally ate half a cup of homemade beef stew that was finely chopped up which was the first big thing he had eaten besides protein shakes and other liquids for over a year. ?Cancer had eaten away his body. Then I asked him and June if they wanted to plan his Celebration of Life and give me access to pictures and music he wanted to have. Both of them agreed so I thought I would have time and he might gain a little weight so that we and some other church members could have a final day of fishing and crabbing where his family used to go towards the end of August.

Just a few short days later on Saturday, July 27th he was unresponsive so June called the hospice nurse and the ambulance took him to the ER and he was back in the hospital that night. Sunday, July 28th I was going to see if he wanted to go to church because I had not seen the text from June but instead, we had church in his hospital room. That Sunday he was awake but could hardly voice words and his pain meds were kicking in. The plan was to discharge him to AdventHealth Hospice in Altamonte Springs. June said when he got there, he tried to sit up but was laid back down and never got up nor was he alert again. That week, June stayed with him off and on and we took turns visiting him. Life Connection Church members (see picture below) prayed and sang to him and I thought we were going to get kicked out because they were singing so loud. But the staff was wonderful and compassionate. They have always been professional and caring during this multi-year battle.

?Then on Saturday, August 8th, at 5:03 pm he was completely healed. I did get access to pictures while visiting him and continuing to help his wife with financial matters

So Here Is How God Worked Today!!!

?June texted me that The Neptune Society called and wanted full payment before they would do the cremation. He was on a payment plan but had only paid one payment. She doesn’t drive yet so she needed a ride there. Knowing she would not have access to his $3000 life insurance policy to pay over $3000 for the cremation. I had previously found another company to do the cremation for about $750, but it was after he signed the contract. Multiple lessons here folks, Life Insurance, planning ahead, and researching along with leaving your family financially set with access to all information, passwords, accounts, and your final wishes are all critical.

Because June was not contractually obligated to pay on his personal credit card, I get why The Neptune Society was doing this. My next plan was to contact the other cremation company and see if they would do it and see if I could negotiate a settlement for the transport to hospice and see about transporting to the other. I thought she would still have to pay for transporting to and from a less expensive crematory. But then I remembered reading something about a week ago about donating a decedent for medical science and that it virtually cost nothing. I googled that an University of Central Florida medical school did this exact thing. However, they require embalmed bodies because they use them up for two years. That would be an extra expense and time was also a factor, and she admitted transporting the body might be an issue. They require a funeral home, embalming, and transport but after finding this out she suggested three other companies.

The first was MedCure Whole Body Donation . I called and after lengthy explanation, she said that it would not be a fit due to the amount of time had passed since Saturday or something. So, it was on to @ScienceCare . I went through the scenario again at length, and they specifically don’t take embalmed bodies and everything is free to the family except for death certificates and they mail you back the ashes when they are done using the body for science.

Kudos to Donor Coordinator at Science Care, Tommy Tucker, for our multiple discussions with June and I and to his multiple conversations today with folks at The Neptune Society ending with the Vice-President. All agreed and all that was needed was consent from June and two witnesses to docusign which Cathy and I agreed to. What a relief this was to June and it is only by the grace of God this all worked out because He still works miracles. Below is Beau and his wife June and their blended family.

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