This is a very sad story.
Jeff Dickerson passes away two years after he lost his wife from melanoma.
They leave behind an 11-year-old son.
Life isn’t fair at times.
Jeff Dickerson, a fixture at ESPN and in the Chicago sports market for two decades, died Tuesday of complications from colon cancer. He was 44.
In a cruel twist, Dickerson died at the same hospice care facility that his wife, Caitlin, died in two years ago. Caitlin Dickerson had fought melanoma and its complications for eight years. Jeff Dickerson is survived by their son, Parker, and his parents, George and Sandy Dickerson.
“JD was one of the most positive people you will ever meet,” ESPN deputy editor for digital NFL coverage Heather Burns said in a statement. “We all got together in October for an event, and there he was lifting our spirits and assuring us he was going to beat cancer. That’s just who he was. We are holding Jeff’s family, and especially his son, Parker, in our prayers.”
Dickerson never wavered in his belief that he would beat back cancer, joking with dark humor that he had too much experience with it. In addition to treatment and his work responsibilities, he spent the past year chronicling Parker’s sports activities, traveling with him to basketball and baseball tournaments and attending his fall football games.
Even after being placed in hospice last week, he told colleagues he was there merely to humor his doctors. No one around him heard a word of self-pity, and he disarmed those who expressed concern by asking them about their own lives.
Please keep his son and his family in your prayers.
That is a lot to put on a kid’s shoulders at such a young age. I hope his future is filled with love and hope.
Tough break for everyone involved.