Like a Boss

On August 24^th, The Hampton Fire Department hosted it’s first “Hampton Hometown Heroes” 5K. The race benefited firefighters Catlin Schroyer and Jordan Eaddy., both of whom are battling serious medical issues.

Kaila Bishop, Jordan Eaddy's fiancee' poses with the guys.

Several firefighters from site had already decided to run together in a show of support, when Firefighter Tony Smiley, who had participated in previous runs wearing full turn out gear, suggested this option to the group.

The entire group agreed this would be a great idea, either because we lacked appropriate amounts of intelligence, or perhaps because Smiley could sell ice water to a drowning man. Since we are firefighters I think a decent argument could be made for the first reason. It kind of reminds me of what my dear old Granddad used to say, looking at me and slowly shaking his head; “Boy” he would say, “If you’re gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough.”

 Yeah, I don’t get it either.

Half way point. The red headed Guy is Alex Murray, Burton Fire.

Seriously, Why did we feel the need to wear “turn-out”, almost 60 extra pounds of gear, on a 3.1 mile run ? I can’t speak for everyone, but Jordan’s story inspired me. Several months ago, Jordan received a very grim prognosis, and at a point when most people would have just given up, he instead adopted a neon, lime-green slogan that simply says “Like a Boss”; a catchy little phrase that doesn’t indicate what you intend to do, but rather how you intend to do it. This was how he intended to fight his illness, and how he continues to fight it even today. Jordan decided he was going to fight “Like a Boss”. How then could we; his “brothers”, not run the same way?

You could say the story here is about accepting challenge, and forging ahead even when the outcome is unpredictable, or worse yet, all too predictable. But it’s also about Firefighters Loretta Williams (She was there on her birthday!) and Christopher Foster, who refused to cross the finish line until we did. They waited for us, then ran that last stretch to the finish alongside the formation, cheering us on.It's about Alex Murray, who did a lot of legwork (pun intended) to help this run happen, put his gear on and ran with us, and is now assembling firefighter runners from all over to run for "code 3 for the cure" a non-profit Cancer support group.  It’s about Firefighters, Law Enforcement, and EMS workers from all over the south coming together for a common cause. Just people helping people, in whatever way they feel most capable.

And then there's this:In the Facebook support group page for Jordan, there is a video of our finish. In the comments, Laura Eaddy said that her Brother watched the video and said “Those guys are awesome.” And for me, that’s what it’s really about. 

I like to think that for just a moment, Jordan was just as inspired by our effort as our effort was inspired by him.

SRSFD Firefighters Jay Evans, Christian Logan, Dwayne Sanford, Tony Smiley, and Phillip Weathers.