CMC gathers to honor one of its own
(Seguin) — The hundreds of friends and good deeds that he made along the way while traveling miles and miles on the open road came back full circle Sunday for CMC Steel Truck Driver Sherman Mercer as he sat witness to a private parade outside his home – a parade that featured over 25 plus 18-wheelers and a number of other vehicles all showing their support for this latest path that this 59-year-old finds himself on.
After 34 years of working as a truck driver, Mercer today is battling lung cancer. After almost two years of battling cancer and other ailments that come with the diagnosis, including COVID-19, Mercer is now at home receiving care through the GRMC Hospice Program.
In an effort to lift his spirits, GRMC Hospice Chaplain Immanuel Carpenter says he was prompted through prayer to help host the parade of big rigs in front of Mercer’s home this past Sunday.
“It was triggered through prayer, through asking the Lord to guide me on my interaction with Sherman. It’s something that I do with all of my patients. I always pray before I go to visit my patients so that anything I share with them is not coming from me but is coming from the Lord and in this case, after I prayed, the Lord revealed to me that this would be something that would lift his spirits. It’s something that the Lord showed me in kind of a vision that he would get joy out of it because this has been a big part of his life for a longtime and to be taken away from it, I’m sure that it was something that was unexpected, something that changed his whole life – I thought that it would be something that would bring him some peace and some comfort and just let him know that the community is behind him, — his friends and his company is behind him,” said Carpenter.
Perhaps what has made this endeavor even more special is that this is not the first time that the paths for these two men have crossed.
“So, when I first started out at the steel mill, I was fortunate enough to become a truck driver for them. Well, Sherman had been a truck driver already for a number of years and he took me under his wing and kind of showed me the ropes about everything to make my job easier,” said Carpenter.
Now a chaplain at GRMC, Carpenter says he relied on his past truck driver experience to help initiate this plan to bring the parade home for Mercer.
“Just being happy to see that it was a turnout more than I expected. I expected a turnout but not as many people as we saw in the truck driver’s parade and just the personal touch that they put by putting his truck as the lead truck in the parade along with a banner that basically said ‘hey, we love you,” said Carpenter.
Mercer’s wife Jackie says she is forever grateful to the hospice program and to those at CMC for helping lift her husband’s spirits.
“It was very touching. They wanted it to be a surprise, so we surprised him. We just told him that they were going to have a group of the drivers come by, and they were going to do a door visit. They were going to stand outside and talk to him through the door. So, we got him into position, and he kept saying, ‘Where are they at? Are they coming” and I’m like yeah, ‘they are coming? They will be here soon,’ and then I said, ‘oh, I think I hear them’ and he says ‘what do you mean?’ And, I’m like, well, they are going to do a little more than just a door visit.’ He’s like, ‘oh, really?’ That’s when the trucks started coming by and led the parade with his truck and they had a very nice banner on it and everything. He was very touched. He could just not believe that they had taken the time to do that. But he’s known they’ve supported him and have always checked on him, but it was a big uplifting for him that day,” said Jackie.
Jackie says after the highs and lows of these past two years, Sunday’s truck parade brought a definite sense of peace to her husband and to her entire family. She says for him, it was the best gift he could have received.
“Sunday, he said it was pretty touching. He said he could not believe all those trucks would show up for him you know, and it was very humbling to him and it brought tears to his eyes. He was very touched. I mean he doesn’t have a lot of strength to stay awake a lot of times but actually that day, he stayed awake a long time just so he could tell everybody hi. He was so excited afterwards that it was hard to get him to rest that evening actually because of the excitement from the day. It was pretty awesome for him. He was very touched,” said Jackie.
Jackie says she will always note herself as the proud wife of a truck driver. She says not only was truck driving his passion but Mercer, in May of 2018, was recognized as the safest driver in the fleet, having achieved a personal goal of three million miles accident-free. Jackie adds that since then, she knows he’s already added to that record with additional miles logged up to his last days of driving in Sept. 2021.
“He loved driving. He loved driving for CMC. He made so many friends on the road at their affiliates and there for a longtime, he was doing kind of a devoted load run to the Corpus rebar plant down there and he got to know so many of those employees down there. It’s just great friends. He is still in touch with some of those that have retired from down there. They call and check on him. We go to their weddings when they get married. They are a big support. They are not just fellow employees. They are family. I don’t know – something about truck drivers and when you are friendly and help out each other, they remember that and they are there to support you throughout everything,” said Jackie.
GRMC Hospice Director Phillip Saenz says he can’t help but become emotional when talking about these efforts that go into bringing additional joy and peace for their patients. He says while not all efforts are as large as a big rig parade, they are just as priceless.
“I tell you I kind of get choked up with it because of more the team – that I just felt privileged to serve them. It’s our mission to go above and beyond for patients to make their whole patient care experience the best we can. We are so honored and privileged to serve our community and each and everyone of our staff – and I think that’s the biggest take away is that I have a small staff. I have six case managers, one LVN, three aides, two chaplains and two social workers. We have an average of six patients, and it makes it that easy when we need to take the time that is needed and we can truly serve our patients like that, “said Saenz.
Saenz says he is especially grateful to those at CMC Steel Texas. He says they are a definite illustration of a corporate family. He says they have truly embraced Mercer as one of their ambassadors and always go above and beyond for one of their own.
“It’s so interesting how Immanuel used to work there, and we go back to the plant, to the steel mill, and they are like ‘hey Immanuel, you coming back? We miss you.’ It’s like that whole culture down there is pretty amazing and when we told his boss, it was like oh, man, he was touched by it and he’s like ‘yeah, we are going to make it happen and all the miles that they put into it, I’m going to donate it to the (GRMC) Foundation and I’m like ‘woah, wow!’ So, it was pretty powerful stuff. It was great,” said Saenz.
Jackie says Sunday’s parade also helped reunite Mercer with a longtime truck driver and good friend who often has difficulty scheduling time off the roadway. However, this time, he told Jackie that things worked out perfectly for him to make it back home and rally around his friend.
Also on hand to celebrate Mercer’s legacy as he continues to fight cancer were son Reagan and daughter Kaitlyn and soon-to-be daughter-in-law Taylor Malone.
Sherman, a proud Steelmaker Since October 18, 1984.
