Steve Godecke's Story

Steve Godecke

Steve Godecke was no stranger to hospitals. Diagnosed with cancer at age three, the next two years of his life were spent mostly in the hospital. Before video games and smartphones, he and his parents read to pass the time back in the early 1980s.

“Reading became a world that helped him live and cope," said his mother, Karen. "It was his channel of what he couldn’t physically do.”

Over the years, Steve became a big fan of "The Wheel of Time" series by Robert Jordan. When the first conference for the book series, JordanCon, was announced in Atlanta in 2009, Steve committed to going. Each year, he volunteered to videotape and edit the conference’s promotional videos until he could no longer do so in 2019.

By that time, Steve’s cancer had come back, this time as an adult. Steve passed away in April 2019, but his friends at JordanCon never forgot him. They raised $17,522 in his honor that same month.

“Our board of directors wanted to recognize Steve for all his work over the years," said JordanCon founder, Jennifer Liang. "He was just such an integral part of the convention. When we found out he wasn’t going to be there, we wanted to do something that would make a big impact. When we asked Steve where we could direct a donation on his behalf, he suggested Mercy’s Hospice program.”

To everyone who met Steve, it was clear he was an individual who made you a better person.

“You think you know your son, but you really truly don’t know the depth and range of their character until other people share their personal memories of them,” Karen said.

Mercy was fortunate to have played a small role in Steve’s journey. He served as a volunteer in our Watts Medical Library and allowed us to serve him through the Hospice of Mercy program. We're thankful to Steve, his family and friends for allowing Mercy to be a part of his story.