Police Chaplain continues fight against leukemia

Gary Tull is a pastor, community leader, law enforcement chaplain and a fighter. Three weeks ago, Tull entered round two in his battle against leukemia.

Tull said he and his family moved to Graham in 1986 to become pastor of his first church. A few years later he became chaplain, a volunteer position, for the Graham Police Department, Young County Sheriff’s Office and Texas Department of Public Safety.

“I do everything from ministering for the officers and their families to delivering death notices to helping out when there is a need, where their is an individual who doesn’t have a place to stay the night,” he said.

Tull said he found out about his leukemia during a hospitalization last year.

“It started March the third of last year, and we went to the hospital thinking I had pneumonia and after we had been there five days the doctor came in and broke the news and told us ‘hey it’s not pneumonia, it’s leukemia,’” Tull said. “And we spent 42 days in the hospital the first time and we had to spend a week a month in the hospital for four months.”

Sheri Widner has set up a blood drive with Carter Blood Care in honor of Tull. The Blood drive will be held at Country Road Fellowship, a church which Tull helped create in 2010 and still is the pastor, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 23.

“The way that works is you used to years ago when you donated blood it went to the person you donated to but it doesn’t work like that anymore,” Tull said. “Now they just take the blood but they are real short right now and Sheri saw the need and that’s the way all my church family is and that’s the way Graham is. When they see a need they just jump in and fill it.”

For more from this story see the Saturday, Feb. 9 edition of The Graham Leader.