In August, 2018, I shared two columns that my friend Jerry Nelson wrote about how, through DNA testing, his cousin and wife were reunited with a daughter they gave up for adoption. You can go to Roadfarming.com and look at all my past columns and you could reread it as I did. The adopted girl, Tammi, was raised on a dairy farm near Kenyon. It’s a fascinating read or re-read in this case.
I got to know Jerry as I did a lot of broadcast work in South Dakota over the years. Jerry grew up on a farm near Volga, South Dakota which his great-grandfather homesteaded in the 1880’s. Jerry and I have known each other since about 2003. Jerry was a dairy farmer who had a near death experience several years ago in a manure pit when he was overcome with hydrogen sulfide. Six weeks in the hospital including a month in ICU gave Jerry a new look at life. So what do you do after that? Well in Jerry’s case, he became a writer. His stories are mostly about rural life and his obscure look at the simple things on and off the farm. I’ve told him that many times I think he and I are twin cousins separated at birth. Our stories from the farm are very similar. Only his were in Volga and mine in West Concord.
You may recall that 1996 there was extreme flooding in eastern South Dakota. It was similar in 2024. Jerry called his county agent to ask how he can keep jet skis out of his corn field holding out hope he could still get some kind of crop. Later in life, Jerry started writing a dairy column which in turn led to him writing a book. From his experience trying to figure out how to keep the jet skiers out of his fields, the book was titled ‘Dear County Agent Guy’. I still have the manuscript that I got to read prior to it being published.
Not only do Jerry and I share a similar background, we also have that same warped sense of humor. His book covers the jet ski experience along with how on their wedding night, his wife Julie, declined to help him chase cows back into the barn while still in her wedding dress. There’s also the story how Jerry offered the delivery room doctor the use of his calf puller during the birth of his first son. They have two boys who he taught to vaporize bugs on an electric fence. It only gets better from there.
In spite of some things he’s gone through and going through a tough time now, Jerry keeps finding the lighter side of things. Jerry was recently diagnosed with tonsil cancer. His oncologist recommended chemotherapy combined with radiation treatments. His chemotherapy drug of choice contains platinum, which Jerry noted, means he was probably worth considerably more after each infusion. Without going into all the detail, Jerry described some of his many medications that come with a long list of possible side effects. He thought some of them in theory, should cancel each other out. For instance, one drug had possible side effects of both constipation and diarrhea. He found out the hard way that they do not cancel each other out.
His treatments are behind him now so it’s a matter of waiting and testing to see how effective all the treatments were. He was told that his type of cancer has an 85% cure rate.
In our similarities in many things, I found out he likes to quote song lyrics like what I have done many times as well. At the end of his telling the story of what he’s gone through, he quoted from the song; I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash. In part, it goes like this:
“I can see clearly now the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way.
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind. It's gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day.”
Jerry added that’s how he feels now. ‘Because look all around, there’s nothing but blue skies. Look straight ahead, nothing but blue skies!’
