Arkansas man with only a few weeks left to live has one goal

BRYANT, Ark. (KATV) -- — What would you do with your time if doctors told you only have weeks left to live? Jerry Henson, a city councilman in Bryant has been faced with that decision and he’s spending his time taking care of others.

At the Boys and Girls Club of Bryant, the rooms are filled with promise, potential and bright futures.

Just down the road, in a quiet hospice room, Jerry Henson's future is quickly slipping away.

"They've given me two weeks, ok? That’s not very long,” Henson said.

A sudden diagnosis of liver cancer has turned the Bryant city councilman's world upside down and taken him from the kids he's grown to love.

"I think they've done a lot more for me than I've done for them,” Henson said.

But that's not what you'll hear from 12-year-old Samuel Johns.

"It's the kind of kindness you can't even comprehend. It's out of this world,” Johns said.

14-year-old Tityana Moore and 10-year-old Karlie Coleman say the same thing about Henson.

"Mr. Jerry was like another father to me and I know that he'd do anything for anybody, no matter who you are or what you've been through,” Moore said.

Coleman says, "We got really close. He knows sometimes I don't do stuff for my birthday, so he knew it would be good to throw me a birthday party and we had some time together."

"Oh, she just boohooed the entire time because she wasn't used to that,” Henson said.

Henson has been someone to look up to in life for 12-year-old Gavin Lewis - an example even in his death.

"He has not many days left and I understand and that makes me feel sad, but he's helping us to the end,” Lewis said.

Henson says in the days he has left, he wants to make sure the Boys and Girls Club of Bryant is taken care of.

"How many of these kids fall through the cracks,” Henson said. "It always comes down to funding. We don't have any funding."

He's asking for donations to the club; an outpouring of funding to keep the work there going when he can't.

"Knowing that these are your last days and you're doing for others where you can't really do much for yourself, a lot of people wouldn't do that,” Moore said.

"That doesn't mean we can't do good work in a short amount of time,” Henson said.

While he'd like to have peace knowing the club is financially secure, he says he also wants to see more adults investing in the lives of kids.

"I don't want just their money. I need their passion. Money runs out. Passion doesn't ever run out,” Henson said.

Filling kids with promise, potential, bright futures. Maybe more people would be described like this while they're still on Earth:

"He was an angel to me,” Johns said.

"I've encountered an angel. I have. He's a true and most wonderful person,” Moore said.

If you'd like to donate, go to BryantBGC.org/Donate