My family

Malia MArie Godsey.

A short bit of background about my family and a brief history of the period when I had Hodgkin's Disease

A jumpstart about the beginning of my sister's personality

When I was around three years old, my parents, my sister and I moved into an apartment after a huge train explosion forced us out of our previous home. It was summer and I was about to begin kindergarten in 1975.

It was late afternoon, maybe 2-3 pm and my father was at work. A big thunderstorm was approaching, the skies were becoming shades of grey. Distant thunder rolled and lightning flashes were increasing. My sister stood in the middle of the front room, but within five feet of the screen door. She was frantic, anxious - nervous about the storm now hovering above us, about to slam down heavy and hard rain, the lightning and thunderclaps were no longer seconds apart.

My sister chanting "One-one-thousand" but was interrupted by the loud crash of lightning, followed by deep, furniture shaking “BOOM!” She was in a panic. She shuffled her feet, flicking her hands as if they were numb, still chanting, not realizing she'd never get past one.

I gazed at her more in confusion than shock or dismay or even concern. Her brows kept changing shapes in what I could only call some sort of physical chant since she kept chanting “One", then the crackle of bolts, then “BOOM!”

She screamed. I was baffled. I was over two years younger than my sister, kinda' timid, definitely shy and didn't know what to do. After the third scream, my mother yelled from the kitchen "Stop it! It's just a thunderstorm!” My sister had pent up rage now and stared me down and I continued look at her, still confused. Was I supposed to cry too?

She yelled "Stop it!" over and over until my mother yelled "What is it this time?" as the storm began to fade.

"J.R. Keeps looking at me!" and my mother replied "Well, stop looking at him!" Sounds logical. Even I understood being only three years old. Not my sister. She tried to punch me repeatedly and I laughed which infuriated her, but I didn't know what to do.

Her punches did nothing to appease her and didn't affect me. She was livid. She grabbed me by the shoulders, violently shook my limp body and I laughed even more. Nothing would solace her turmoil. Nothing.

That girl screaming and assaulting me?

Well, she was twice my size and her name is Malia Marie Godsey - my older and only sister. My father had kids from a previous marriage (three marriages total). Their names were Jerry Godsey Jr (Chip), Brian and Carolann. I only met them once, very much against my mother’s wishes. I say “were” because they're all dead now, all from suicide.

My name is Gerald Godsey Jr but most people call me Jerry. My father is Gerald Godsey Sr and that's why my family calls me J.R. My mother is Lois Godsey. She's dead. She died in 1997 from Mesothelioma, lung cancer not long after I was in remission from Stage IV Hodgkins Disease. It's a lymphatic cancer that fills your immune system with non-operational white blood cells or white blood cells that attack anything - even each other. Basically it crowds your immune system.

My daughter was born shortly before I found out I had cancer. I was fired from my job at ADM Trucking because of the cancer diagnosis and my child's mother dumped after being together for almost three years.

I was living with my parents, dying at 22 years old. My mother looked out for me as I struggled facing death, penniless, and - a raising a child that may be very briefly. Would she even remember me? I kept my cancer a secret because I was ashamed and I didn't want to worry anyone. My mother and I were very close, especially because I was so small and shy. I later became a drummer, then a singer in metal bands - at 6 feet tall I was no longer shy or timid.

My ex, Jennifer Emmerich (my kid's mother) and I traveled the country prior to me being diagnose and prior to working at biosys, then ADM Trucking. We met in 1990, at a club in Springfield. I was, to be honest, a little shy around certain women and only once approached a woman in my entire life. She did most of the talking, I remained annoyed at her persistence.

It's now 2025 and I just recently was considered in remission from Stage IV colon cancer.