A LEGACY OF LOVE, LIFE AND SECOND CHANCES—Courtesy of OSUCCC—James.
A chance meeting and love at first sight on the Ohio State campus launched a love and legacy that now comes full circle in an estate gift.
Although Judy and Roy Smoot’s four-decade love story began on a cold, 1974 February day on the Ohio State campus and ended in Judy’stragic terminal glioblastoma diagnosis, the care they received at The James was a blessing deeply treasured. “Judy and I were treated with incredible skill and compassion during her glioblastoma cancer care at The James from her diagnosis until she left this earth,” Roy remembers.
This incredible Ohio State love story was far from over, however. In It All Belongs, Roy’s book chronicling this awe-inspiring journey of “Love Loss and Learning to Live Again,” readers will learn of Roy and Judy’s Ohio State beginnings and Judy’s subsequent life and work as a spiritual director and expressive arts instructor. With Judy’s illness and death, Roy began an excruciating, unwanted journey of grief before finding new love and life with his current wife, June. With its twin narratives, art, poetry and hands-on help for others on these inescapable journeys, It All Belongs is a book for everyone, and it is deeply rooted at Ohio State.
Just before Roy and June began their happily ever after era, Roy received a lung cancer diagnosis, sending him (with June) back to the caring arms of The James for treatment. “I then received incredible carefor my lung cancer at The James. Dr. Carbone and his thoracic careteam saved my life,” Roy reflects.
Today, Roy and June are well into a shared life with nothing taken for granted, every moment lived and cherished to its fullest. In this climate of love and appreciation, their thoughts turned immediately to expressing their immense gratitude for all they’ve been given—and responding to the responsibility they both feel to pay forward and give back so others can live and discover their best lives, even when the unthinkable occurs.
“I’ve been wonderfully blessed throughout my life, in good and bad times,” Roy reflects. “June and I share such gratitude for this second chance at life and love that we decided to use our estate plan as a vehicle to be sure The James and other organizations received funds from us after we’re gone.”
We want our gifts to be resources for health, research, community benefits and our planet’s health,” said Roy. “We hope our estate gift will help researchers and thoracic medical providers save more lives so other patients will be able to say, ‘The James saved my life’ or ‘The James saved my loved one’s life.’”
Roy says creating this legacy for his family at Ohio State was a logical step. “Ohio State has given us so much and cared for us so well via the many spectacular people there,” he adds. “How could we not thank them with a gift that will outlast us?”