'Jerome was always unforgettable': Former Executive Director of Penticton's Discovery House passes, leaving a large legacy of lives saved

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"The more he helped people, the more involved he kept getting and the more people he kept helping...The best thing people can do to remember Jerome is to just carry that light forward."

Penticton is mourning the loss of a beloved community leader, remembered for his compassion, advocation for addiction recovery services and his unwavering support of those in need.

Jerome Abraham — known by many as the face of Discovery House for years — passed on Friday night, at age 49 after several years of living with cancer.

His sister, Jennifer Abraham, said while his cancer had gotten much worse, his spirit was always strong.

"The doctors in December had come to us and told us that they felt that at that time, he was going to pass. And Jerome simply said that day to the doctor, 'Well, I don't feel that way,'" she shared.

"And then it was basically miraculous. People at the Cancer Clinic and other doctors just said 'We can't even believe that he ever made it out of the hospital' and that was in January, so he'd beat all the odds."

Sadly, his cancer did continue to progress quite quickly in the last few weeks.

Jerome, who was the executive director of Penticton’s Discovery House for more than a decade, stepped back from his role last April due to worsening health.

Later that month, he was honoured with the Paul Harris Fellowship Award from the Penticton Sunrise Rotary Club for his extraordinary service to the community.

At that time, Jerome said that while it was very nice to be recognized, he also wanted to credit the work of everybody that lifted him up and help grow the society.

Always the humble, well-spoken leader of the recovery resource society, Jerome would often point to the combined efforts of his team for making things possible.

Working for the society with whom he credits helped save his own life, Jerome shared both from personal experience and from his work as a now-sober community member helping others leave addiction behind to advocate for change.

Throughout the growth of overdoses and the challenges of the opioid epidemic, Jerome would say what frustrated him throughout the years was that mental health and addiction challenges are still treated differently.

"He managed to be able to change his life around and just do a world of good for a lot of other people. He was just a really special individual and just kept giving back to other people. He had an immense amount of acceptance for people," Jennifer said.

Jennifer said seeing that growth in her brother was remarkable, especially after his struggle in and out of recovery periods for 17 years.

"When he finally got into the Discovery House, we were skeptical, we weren't exactly sure how that was going to work out because we had been down this path with him before. [Then] we started seeing him getting his chips year after year and putting the work in and having his birthdays," she said.

"Before you knew it, he wasn't just another bed at the recovery house. He was raising money for [the society] to buy another house and get more beds, and keep doing great things. Discovery House taught him how to love himself again."

As his life grew to be blessed with a son, Jennifer said she saw a further change in him.

"Now he understood what it was like for a father to return to their family. He really understood the impact of that, it was even more significant instead of just being somebody's son, or brother who was a user and the family going through that, it was truly being somebody's father and returning fathers to their families."

Even in his final weeks, Jerome was there for his son, Jennifer shared.

"When he went into December in the ICU, doing an Earthcare project with his son. He was very sick and in a lot of pain and he was still doing bottle drives," she said.

"He's raising money. He's giving money away. He's getting Christmas gifts and bills and dinners together for single moms with kids, and all the while he's doing these things, he's teaching his son how to do these things and how to be a good human."

Jennifer said she hopes moving forward, others will be inspired too.

"I keep telling people, whatever he did for you that made a difference, make sure you do that for someone else."

One of Jerome's happiest places was on a ski hill, snowboarding on fresh powder. He'd often send a selfie to family members of him with a giant grin on his face, snow-covered trees in the background.

That was the photo Discovery House chose to share in their post about Jerome's passing, noting that the world has lost a courageous and bright light.

"Our friend, Jerome, has completed this part of his journey, and his body has surrendered after several years of living with cancer. He tirelessly led our organization and touched the lives of countless individuals looking to break free from the shackles of addiction," they wrote.

"Jerome was a true warrior in his own recovery journey, in his guidance for those looking to better their lives, and in his fight to eliminate the stigma of addiction so prevalent in our society. Discovery House, our staff, our clients, and all of those who this organization has helped are better because of Jerome and his works. Thank you, Jerome. We love you brother, and we will do our best to give to others what you so generously gave to us."

Many messages remembering Jerome’s kindness, laughter, selflessness and wisdom have been shared since his passing. His presence will be missed.

What stood out for Jennifer about his character was his humour.

"He had always had a wonderful knack of joking with people to get another laugh or become great friends."

He was also quite the sales man since they were young.

"When we were young, he would go around our complex and pick people's flowers out of their own yard and then try and sell them to them," Jennifer said with a chuckle.

"We lived in another place when we were teenagers and he made this haunted house and sold tickets for it to all the neighbourhood kids. It wasn't a very good haunted house, but he made money and he managed to talk people into coming."

"I think the work at the Discovery House, turned him from a salesperson selling products to a guy who is now promoting saving lives."

Jennifer thanked the community for all the support they've shown to all of Jerome's family at this time.

"You can definitely tell how much somebody has touched the people in the world when stuff like this happens, because people just have come out in the hordes and droves," she said.

"Jerome was always unforgettable."

A celebration of life is being planned within the next month, with details being released later on.