Teen becomes firefighter after surviving cancer and homelessness

Jesse Mecham dreamed of becoming a firefighter. “It’s one of the best jobs in the world,” he told KSTU. After becoming homeless, Jesse was taken in by his grandfather, whose footsteps he now follows. “My grandfather was in 9/11,” he said. “He didn't die during 9/11, but he died because of it. He ended up inhaling the jet fuel that was burning there and it killed him about 20 years later.” A year after losing his grandfather to cancer, Jesse himself was diagnosed with germ cell cancer. “It was pretty scary to see him die from it,” he said. “And then I realized I could die from it.” Having no family to welcome Jesse, Julie Williams made room for the teenager in her home. ” “I have nowhere to go. I don't know which way to go. no one wants me,” she recalled Jesse saying. “And we just said, 'That's absolutely wrong.'” After graduating from Mountain Ridge High School on Thursday, Jesse entered the fire academy at Utah Valley University, with a scholarship from Make-A-Wish, which surprised him with a fire truck and a check before graduation “When you have cancer or something. that, you enter a spiral of sadness and when you receive the Make-A-Wish, you become very joyful and you are very motivated in life”, he declared. Surrounded by many classmates who didn't graduate, Williams couldn't be prouder of Jesse. “He could have played the victim,” she said. “He could have wallowed in his misery. He could have given up at any point in his life, and he didn't. He persevered, he moved forward. He has been a great example to all of us in everything he does. “Jesse wants a career where he can repay the kindness shown to him, he said.” I was trying to figure out what I wanted to make my wish come true and I realized that I wanted a future, and so my future that I could see was being a firefighter. »