To anyone who wants to help this family in their time of grieving, and in lieu of flowers or anything else, Bryant’s daughters ask that you contribute to this fund. They greatly appreciate and are grateful for your prayers now, and during this time of transition to life without their dad.

Bryant’s Obituary can be viewed by clicking here. 

https://www.courieranywhere.com/2022/01/04/william-terry-12-25-21-service-2-5-22/

 

The sole benefactor of this campaign is Debra Terry, the wife of the late and great Willam Bryant Terry. He did not have medical or life insurance when he was diagnosed with cancer. The intent of this GoFundMe is to alleviate as much financial burden as possible after two years of Bryant fighting pancreatic cancer and the weeks following that include cremation and a memorial. Soon after his diagnosis (early 2020) Debbie left her job (at Wal-Mart) in order to take care of Bryant full-time. To be frank, having no insurance and little to no income has left very little of what Bryant was working so hard to leave her with. 

 

Bryant was a recovering addict, and at the time of his death had been clean and sober for over 17 years. Committed to his sobriety he served the community in which he lived. He was heavily involved at his local AA/NA chapters by chairing, sponsoring, and serving in countless ways. He also participated in various prison ministries by providing Bibles, studying the scriptures with, praying with and baptizing inmates while they were incarcerated. He touched many lives by allowing God to turn his mess into a message.

 

Bryant was the bread winner of his household. In his most recent years he worked at Savannah Foods wearing many hats. He was also the proprietor of a business started by his son-in-law called Phil’s Garage Doors. He made a name for himself and loved what he was doing. By late 2019 the steady flow of referrals from happy customers grew his business so much so that he decided to quit his day job and devote his full attention to the family business. In doing that he lost his benefits including his health and life insurance. Not long after that, and before he could secure new coverages, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Needless to say he was unable to obtain insurance after that. 

 

Two months after his diagnosis he was able to undergo the Whipple procedure. His doctors were hopeful and considered the surgery to be a success, but they recommended chemotherapy within a certain time frame due to comprised lymph nodes. Unfortunately, he had take a break after 4 treatments due to extreme weight loss, and sorosis of the liver. Not long after resuming treatment he began experiencing extreme back pain which turned out to be osteomyelitis (infection of the bone) in his spine. This stalled his chemo treatments again. 

 

 

To make matters worse, ascites (fluid in the abdomen) made it difficult for him to eat in order to gain enough weight to withstand continuing chemo treatments. His expanding stomach also made it harder to breathe. At one point he was driving 3 hours roundtrip once a week to get his stomach drained in Jackson, TN. His ever-expanding abdomen resembled that of a 6 month pregnant woman at times, and the increasing pain eventually led him to the Emergency Room on November 17, 2021. After two days in the hospital, scans revealed that his pancreas and liver were completely cancerous, as was the fluid in his stomach. The doctors then told Bryant and Debbie that there was nothing more they could do for him. He was discharged and transferred into hospice care at home on November 22, 2021.

 

Although his physical pain increased by the minute in the last month of his life on earth he was grateful and constantly saying that he hadn’t lived his best day yet. He never lost his sense of humor and was joking around until he lost his ability to talk. His hope for heaven was tangible, but his anxiety over leaving his wife behind without financial security consumed him. All he cared about was making sure that Debbie would be taken care of. Upon hearing the news, all seven of his daughters and their families were able to travel to Tennessee three days later to be with Bryant & Debbie on Thanksgiving Day. By the grace of God he got to see his entire family together (for the very first time) loving each other and honoring him. It was something he never dreamed he would get, and something he believed without a doubt that he didn’t deserve.

 

William Bryant Terry peacefully passed on to Glory on Christmas Day with his devoted wife by his side. A few days later, one of his daughters found a document that he wrote on his computer. It was a letter to anyone seeking God. At the end of the letter he wrote,

 

“Thank God life is not fair. If it was, I would have gotten what I deserved already!”

 

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.