Ice cream and compassion entwined

Dolores hope

Garden City Telegram

Wednesday, July 11, 2001

In times that seem without hope or help, there are people who are determined to show their care and concern by doing something. Even if it is something like organizing a benefit ice cream social, churning ice cream and baking cakes in the heat of midsummer.

A case in point is the ice cream social set for 4 to 6 p.m. this Saturday (July14) at Trinity Lutheran Church, 1010 Fleming St., for Brion and Greg Larson, father and son, who are terminally ill with cancer at their home in Marquette.

"Brion was restoring a pipe organ for our church (the organ from closed St. Mary of the Plains College in Dodge City) when he became ill in 1999. He had the console finished" Said Fern Becker, church member and.one-time neighbor of the Larsons. "We wanted to do something for the family. The church hopes to match contributions and proceeds from the benefit social," she said. All of the ice cream will be homemade.

Brion, who was born in Garden City had his 45th birthday on June 30. Greg, also a Finney County native who spent his early years in Holcomb, will be 24 next month. Brions mother, Blanche Larson, lives in Garden City. His father, Charles, a farmer, died in 1979.

It is not known how much longer Greg has to live. He was 17 when he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He battled and beat it and had sev healthy years before he was found to have stomach cancer last year.

In the meantime, in 1999, his father, Brion, was diagnosed with cancer which went into remission for a while, only to return in the past year.

Doctors say Brion may have 18 months to live if he chooses not to undergo chemotherapy.

With memories of his first chemo experience and no guarantee another will add time or quality to his life, he and his wife, Nancy are trying to decide if he should go for chemo again or let the cancer take its course.

For Greg, who will be 24 next month, there are no decisions to make. His health is deteriorating quickly. His body, getting food only through a tube for nearly a year, is ravaged by the disease and its side effects. After spending four months in the oncology ward at Salina Regional Health Center, he was dismissed to his home in Marquette where he is most comfortable on the living room couch with his parents, his sisters, 22 and 16, and brother, 14, nearby.

He realized, when he left the oncology unit, he was being sent home because there was no chance of his survival. "I ache inside for him," his mother told a Salina Journal reporter. "Its hard to watch him go through this."

Although Brion often is wracked with pain (he has an implanted pump that feeds morphine throughout the day), he helps his son as much as possible, cleaning his dressings and bolstering his sagging spirits as much as he can.

Brion and his wife owned Larson Organ Co. in downtown Marquette. It was their sole source of income. Brion built a number of organs in Garden City and the area before moving his business from Holcomb to Marquette in the late 1980s. The cancer and intense pain made the physical labor impossible, so the business was closed. The family depends on Medicaid to pay the staggering medical bills.

For Brion, his son's tragedy is greater than his own. His biggest regret, he told the Journal, is that Greg won't live to be a husband and father. In fact, that is something Brion doesn't take for granted anymore. He said he is much more expressive about his feelings now. His wife, Nancy admits her weariness from the years cancer has dominated their lives. "Im losing my oldest son and my husband at the same time," adding that she is thankful for whatever time is left. "We'll do our best to spend it to the fullest," she said in the Journal story.