Giving man still helping after death

By Lee Benson, Columnist
Deseret Morning News
Sunday, Nov. 5, 2006

Original article:
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650204479,00.html

By all accounts, Jordan Fowers of Farmington was a giving sort of person. He was the kind of guy who, if you were riding next to him on an airplane, he'd give you the armrest. The kind of guy who, when he went off to Mexico five years ago for an LDS mission, gave his watch away to his first companion. The kind of guy who, two years later when he came back home to Farmington, barely had the suit left on his back because he gave everything else away.

Which explains why Jordan's family is so intent on honoring his memory by giving away something with his name on it.

Introducing the Jordan Fowers Memorial Endowed Scholarship at BYU.

This is a college scholarship, explains Jordan's mother, Jana, "that will help Latinos attend BYU who otherwise couldn't manage it financially."

It represents one of the few things Jordan wanted to give away while he was alive but didn't.
"When he returned from Mexico he constantly talked about his great native companions who wanted to attend BYU but couldn't swing it," remembers Jana Fowers. "He kept asking me, 'Mom, how can we make this happen?' And I kept saying, 'We can't.'"

But that was before something happened that made Jordan's mother think maybe they could.

This past January, at the age of 23, Jordan died.

His death came suddenly and unexpectedly. The cause was complications from open heart surgery, but the real assassin was a condition known as Marfan syndrome, a rare connective tissue disorder traditionally believed to be the province of tall people.

At 5-foot-10, Jordan was average height, which helps explain — although not excuse — why multiple doctors didn't diagnose Marfan syndrome when Jordan had earlier surgeries to repair his sternum, a groin hernia and to realign his jaw, all indicators of weak connective tissue.

The Marfans might have been discovered when he was on his mission in Mexico and suffered from severe chest pains while playing basketball — indicative of his weakening heart valves and a torn aorta — but he declined an early release so he could have it checked stateside.

When he returned to school at BYU and felt additional chest pains, he figured it was because he wasn't in good enough shape and exercised all the harder.

In his case, precisely the wrong thing to do.

But even in dying, Jordan managed to give a huge gift to his family by alerting them to their genetic makeup. Five of his eight brothers and sisters have since been diag- nosed with Marfans, as well as Jordan's father, Sam.

There is no known cure, but people with Marfans can take blood pressure medication and regulate their exercise and contact sports accordingly — something the Fowers family members are doing religiously.

They are also doing all they can to spread the word among medical practitioners that people of normal height can have Marfan syndrome.

Jana Fowers will be the first to admit that her son's non-whining nature didn't help the situation.
"This was a boy who never complained about anything, never asked for anything," she says.

He attended college on a full-ride scholarship, courtesy of being valedictorian of his 700-member class at Davis High School, and when he died he was one semester from graduating from BYU. The family made certain the remainder of his scholarship was divided among two students from Mexico.

In the months since, they have been earnestly trying to raise the $40,000 that BYU has told them it needs to establish a perpetual scholarship for Latinos in Jordan's name.

They are at $15,000 in less than 10 months. They need to raise the full amount in five years.

Jana Fowers acknowledges they could use outside help. Anyone who would like to join the cause can send a donation to "LDS Philanthropies, 1501 N. Canyon Road, Provo, UT 84604," specifying the Jordan Fowers Scholarship, or can call the Fowerses at 801-451-0966.

"I just know Jordan is pleased we're doing this," says Jana. "That's what he was all about, helping people. And this is something we can do for him."