Two issues ago, Back40 News poked a little fun at our managing editor,
Teddy Burch’s slip and slide accident – and subsequent trip to the
emergency room. It turns out that was really the beginning of the
story.
Within hours of his examination, Teddy was in surgery.
Within days of his surgery, Teddy was diagnosed with cancer. And since
his diagnosis, we have come to learn that the cancer is very
aggressive. As you read this, it’s very likely that Teddy is sitting in
a room with other cancer patients receiving day-long treatments of
chemotherapy. Teddy’s chemo schedule is essentially one week on,
followed by one week off. The program of treatment is for 9 weeks.
Teddy
is a character; I have never met anyone like him. When he speaks, his
voice will raise and lower as he verbalizes his thoughts to you –
almost like a melody. His favorite phrase is, “Outstanding!” We miss
hearing that around the office.
Teddy graduated from UCO last
spring as an “older graduate.” At UCO, Teddy managed the paper. At
Back40 he writes, takes photos and manages the freelance writers for
both of our publications. The weekend before starting at Back40, Teddy
married Dena Weaver and became a father to her three children, Brendon,
12, Jacob, 11 and Gabrielle, 4. Dena was diagnosed with thyroid cancer
a year earlier and continues her scheduled radiation treatments.
We
usually take this space to have some gratuitous fun—but this month we’d
like to ask for your prayers for this young couple. We also want to let
our readers know that Teddy’s family and friends are putting together a
benefit garage sale on Saturday, October 13th. The garage sale will be
located at 3201 E. Memorial (just east of Braums, near Bryant) at the
Back40 office in Edmond. It should be huge.
Right now family,
friends and staff members are praying, delivering meals and driving
Teddy to his treatments. If you’d like to help or donate something to
the garage sale, you can contact Teddy’s sister-in-law, Linda Burch, at
317-6377.
Dena works at Wal-mart Neighborhood Market at 1301 East
2nd st. in Edmond. Her friends and co-workers have set up donation cans
in the store for Dena and Teddy. There has also been a fund set up at
Arvest bank in the name of Teddy and Dena Burch.
Hopefully next month we will have some “outstanding” news.