Veterans are special and they leave a special impact on many lives. Sam Owens is one of those special people. He was a Ranger in the U.S. Army and this weekend as we celebrate on Memorial Day, we want to celebrate Sam’s life, too.

Sam was diagnosed more than three years ago with B-cell lymphoma. Even though he went through remission, his life was never the same. He was in and out of the hospital and struggled with symptoms of the disease throughout the course of his illness. “There were many treatments and many near-death experiences”, says his wife, Candace.

U.S. Rangers are some of the best trained soldiers in the world and Rangers are an elite force that conduct special military missions on short notice. Elite is a word that perfectly describes Sam and his experience with cancer.

Candace and Sam went through the journey of cancer together. When most people would feel defeated and resort to a loss of hope – particularly after a cancelled stem cell transplant due to pneumonia, memory issues, and other byproducts of this cruel disease – they started viewing life differently.

“Cancer changed us. Everything we knew changed and Sam turned into a different person. He saw life differently and embraced every moment. He started showing kindness and grace in a way that I had never seen before. He was literally grateful to everyone for everything during this time.” says Candace. “We both learned from the disease, and going through cancer really drew us closer together. We saw kindness and became better people. It was a beautiful time in our relationship, in spite of the awfulness of cancer,” she continues.

Sam was an incredible person by all accounts. He owned Owens Insurance Agency and worked there all of his life. He and Candace met thirty years ago and they have four children.The last time that Sam was in the hospital, his physicians told him that it was time to talk about hospice care. He and Candace really wanted to spend their last days together in their own home, but because he was not quite ready to go home, he and Candace moved to Hospice Ministries.

“I’ll always be grateful to Hospice Ministries because while we were in the inpatient facility in Ridgeland, they knew our great desire to be in our own home and they worked with us every day to make that happen,” says Candace. They educated her on how to take care of Sam and really prepared her for their journey home. “Because of their help we were able to move home and spend our last days together around the memories we had made over our lifetimes.”

Sam became well-known at Hospice Ministries during his stay to all of the staff and volunteers. “They became like family to us and when we got home they continued hospice care. As part of their in-home hospice care they came in to our home and provided the highest quality care available. They took care of his every need during that time, including his baths and anything else that he needed. In between visits they called to check on him to see if I needed any help. They were incredible and I can express enough how I wouldn’t have been able to do this without their great attention to every detail. We experienced every aspect of Hospice Ministries – from the hospital room, to the inpatient facility, and then in our own home. Hospice is a journey and an experience that Sam and I, along with Hospice Ministries, were on together. We were all together by his bedside when he passed away in April.”

Many of the more than 21.8 million veterans in the U.S. today are over the age of 65 and may at some point need hospice. Hospice Ministries honors veterans through a program called ‘We Honor Veterans.’ To learn more about Hospice Ministries and the ‘We Honor Veterans’ program, visit the Hospice Ministries website!