To President Dave Gillotte,

My name is Gordon Watson and I am a dear friend of Mark Hewison (FS 43-C, BN 12). Mark and I have been best friends since the third grade and grew up together. I am a Firefighter/Paramedic/Engineer for Central Fire District of Santa Cruz County and currently work out our Soquel station #3.

As you know Mark is a very hard worker as well as a family oriented man. He has two beautiful children and a loving wife who has recently become ill. Since Mark delivered the heartbreaking news of Vann’s cancer, my family and I, have been consumed with positive thoughts and ideas to assist them. Mark has shared with me that members of your department have done so much to assist him already, he is truly touched. Mark and his family have done so much for me personally, that I am honored to do anything and everything I can to assist them in their time of need.

We are in the process of setting up a website for the Hewison family. The URL is www.thehewisonfamily.com. We have also set up a blog page that is live now. The address of the blog is thehewisonfamily.blogspot.com.

The blog will show up as a link on the website and your union members can visit to show Mark and his family continuous support. The blog will also show updates on Vann’s general condition, so people can stay in tune to their struggles and progress.

A destination for donations is still being defined. The website also will have a link for anyone who would like to support the Hewison family in this way. Mark is working on a tax# and a route through PayPal.

Over the years, our union-Local #3605, has supported other Unions members across the nation in their time of need. Generally we’ll receive a letter of, “Request For Donation.” These donation requests go out across the nation and gather support for a firefighter or a member of their immediate family. I am reaching out to your union on the behalf of my old friend to ask the question- Can the Local #1014 send a,” Letter of Donation Request” out to firefighter unions in order to gather support for the Hewison family?

I would be happy to assists your union in any way, do anything possible, to gather support for my Mark’s family. Please feel free to contact me at anytime for any reason. If your union has a standard protocol to assist a union member, I would love the opportunity to assist your union in that effort. Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

Little Background on the Hewison Family: Vann, is 35 years old and was working full time at Costco Wholesale in Irvine. They have been together for 12 years and have two daughters, Ryley 5 years old and Taylor 3 years old.

Background on diagnosis: In April 2010, Vann started having some changes in her bowel movements. They decided to go to her Doctor which lead to a series of Ultrasounds, MRI's, and Cat Scans. This revealed a tumor in her Sigmoid Colon. After a Colonoscopy it was confirmed to be Colon Cancer. Unfortunately over the last few weeks they have learned the Cancer has spread in her bloodstream to her liver and lungs bilaterally. At this point it is Stage 4 Colon Cancer. Vann has had one surgery on May 6th for her Colostomy and has started FOLFOX Chemotherapy this week. They feel very comfortable with the team of Dr's assembled to assist her and are keeping a very positive outlook!

Respectfully,

Gordon Watson

Cell (831) 359-8468
Home (831) 476-1931