Brittany Kelley
Community, first responders rally behind Buda firefighter’s cancer battle
By Megan Navarro - July 16, 2025
BUDA — After discovering that Jason Eckstrom was going to have to endure another cancer battle, even strangers have stepped up to help.
The Buda Fire Department firefighter moved to the city with his family in 2009 and started volunteering at the fire department in 2010, before officially joining the force in 2011 and then, got hired on as a full-time firefighter in 2013. He’s also an emergency medical technician (EMT) and relief driver/operator, alongside having swift water and rescue certifications.
“They’ve been the only place I think I would have really ever liked to work. It’s family. It’s growing like crazy, but it’s been incredible,” Jason said. “I love my job. I always say, ‘It’s the best job in the world.’”
Jason was recently diagnosed with stage 4 rectal cancer that has spread to other parts of his body; however, this is not the first time that he has heard the news of a cancer diagnosis.
In 2022, after years of his doctor asking him to get it done, he had a colonoscopy. When he came out of a procedure, he was told that he had rectal cancer, which was a shock.
“I was very healthy. I was trying to do my best to take care of myself … I was an older firefighter, so I had to be bigger, stronger than the younger guys or at least that's what I tried to tell myself. So, I never thought anything like this would happen to me, like I'm the last guy. Well, it happened. And so, it's kind of a shock. It took me probably about three months to really kind of come to terms with, ‘Wow, this is really happening,’” Jason said.
After having an ileostomy bag for nine months and rounds of chemo to get it reversed, he had several clean bills of health and was ready to go back to work. But, later in 2024, it was discovered that the cancer moved to his lungs and then, to his clavicle.
A few months ago, his equilibrium, fine motor skills and quick-thinking were off, leading his wife, Megan Eckstrom, to ask for the doctors to do a scan of his brain.
“It turns out, now I have lesions in my brain and so, the large one is on my cerebellum, which is causing swelling, which is just making me not be able to walk,” Jason said. “I mean, it was literally like I was drunk. It was a crazy feeling and I've been free from that. I wouldn't say free, but I would say I'm like 85% right now with my balance.”
“[They have done] pinpoint radiation on his brain — five different treatments of that — and so, it’s based on steroids and stuff like that. It’s reduced the swelling,” Megan said. “Everything, right now, is holding stable where we are right at this moment today.”
It’s been scary for the whole family, Megan said, just to think that they are getting over one obstacle of a diagnosis, but then to turn around and another one comes.
Up until this point, Jason has not had any outward symptoms. Megan shared that he would be tired after chemo, radiation and other treatments, but other than that, he was completely normal until the cancer spread to the brain.
For Jason, firefighting is his dream job and he couldn’t see himself doing anything else, but the doctors believe that it could have been the cause of his cancer.
“They basically put it back on carcinogens and all the things that you're susceptible to whenever you're a firefighter. Unfortunately, he loves it and that's the best job in the world and all he wants to do is get back to it,” Megan said. “That’s what caused it. It’s a catch-22, but if he could have one wish, it would be to be better and go back to the department.”
Several members of the community who are local to Buda — neighbors, friends, family and first responders — but also, those who are outside of the city limit sign, have decided that Jason and his family should not fight this battle alone.
This includes AJ Hernandez, a firefighter with Kyle Fire Department for three years, who donated $50 from every booking made through the end of July with his business, First Due Yard Rentals, directly to support Jason.
“I’ve seen firsthand what this job takes physically, mentally and emotionally and we're all trying to run towards the problem and be the helpers, but we're not really good at asking for help ourselves,” Hernandez said. “So, for me, I think that's why I feel that supporting first responders matters so much because behind the uniform and all that, we're all people with family and, sometimes, battles that we can't face alone. So, when one of us [is] struggling, I think it's important for the rest of us to help carry them and support them through their rough time.”
Chris Vidal, who has been running Code 3 Fence Solutions for three years and serves as a firefighter and paramedic in the city of Kyle, also pledged to donate 20% of the profits from every job booked through the end of July.
The community has also stepped up to help Jason and his family, through a charity golf tournament that was held in late July, donations from businesses, Eckstrom’s Fight merchandise sales and even people who have shaved their heads in solidarity.
“We have so much support around us from not only just friends and family, but complete and utter strangers, fire departments, police departments and emergency service districts that we've never met and we've never heard of,” Megan said. “[One guy] said, ‘Brotherhood doesn't end at the city limit sign.’”
From the jump, this has been scary for everybody who is involved, Megan said, as BFD has not dealt with anybody who has had multiple diagnoses that ended up being caused by firefighting.
Because of this, both Jason and Megan highly recommend for firefighters — as many are signing up at a younger and younger age — to get a colonoscopy done and not wait.
Donation information can be found on the GoFundMe — which has raised $22,737 as of Dec. 29 — at bit.ly/4nDZqqG. Stay up-to-date on Jason at www.facebook.com/eckstromsfight.
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Wimberley ISD young minds spark intergenerational friendships at Deer Creek
By Brittany Kelley - May 7, 2025
WIMBERLEY — In an age where handwritten letters are a novelty of the past, Wimberley ISD second graders are forming intergenerational relationships through a pen pal program with those that need it most — older adults residing at Deer Creek Nursing and Rehab.
The idea sparked when Deer Creek Director of Rehab Reagan Bow’s own daughter formed a friendship with a resident after spending so much time at the facility. This friendship halted when the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world, forcing the interactions between the two to end, as her daughter was no longer allowed inside. Searching for ways to continue their conversations, they began sending each other letters.
Seeing how much joy it brought the resident, along with the emergence of daycares inside nursing homes, Bow took the two ideas and worked with Diana Spangenberg, a former WISD teacher, to create a pen pal program in the 2023-24 school year.
Spangenberg’s mother resided at the facility, so she took her knowledge of the residents and of her students to pair them up together, to ensure that there were common interests.
This year, following Spangenberg’s retirement, Blue Hole Primary School (BHP) second grade teacher Debi King took over the program.
The pen pals are currently made up of one class, along with volunteers who wanted to participate from Deer Creek.
According to Bow, King had her students fill out a questionnaire with basic likes, family information and more to aid their pairing process. For example, if a student had six brothers and sisters, Bow paired them up with a resident who had 12 brothers and sisters, as they could relate to having large families.
Each time the students begin to write a letter, they can pull out a folder with several greetings, closers and sentence starters to aid in writing a response, whether that be asking their own question or answering one given to them.
Alongside the letters are often art pieces created by the students, explained King.
Once the letters arrive at Deer Creek, staff aids those participating with reading and writing, if needed, a response to their younger counterparts. In a recent letter, residents were prompted with Easter traditions, so they asked the students what they were planning to do, while sharing their own memories and experiences.
For the first time in the school year, the pen pals met face-to-face May 2, as King’s class traveled to Deer Creek, which both Bow and King were excited for. The children prepared a song to sing for the pen pals and delivered their final letter in person. There, many families and residents decided to exchange information to continue to communicate in the future, which is exactly what resident Meg Grant and student Alyssa Tedrick planned to do.
It was Grant’s first time participating in the program: “I loved it. It was really sweet. We had a lot of fun communicating back and forth.”
Resident Kimberley Hoevelman was excited to meet her pen pal, even bringing a gift of a Snoopy stuffed animal for her, to which she received flowers back.
Both Bow and King hope to keep the program going long in the future, with the class rotating each year.
“It’s an honor for me to be able to be the teacher to get this group of students to actually understand the process of an old fashioned way of relating to other people; that’s gone to the wayside. So, it’s an honor for me to be able to incorporate that and to teach the students how important it is to reach out to someone in your community and just spread them all friendship and kindness to them and for them to see that kindness come back to them in full circle,” concluded King.
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Speeding Springs Museum owner to open antique store in Dripping Springs
By Megan Navarro - July, 16, 2025
DRIPPING SPRINGS — Megan Jones, owner of Speeding Springs in Dripping Springs, combined her passions of interior decorating and collecting historical memorabilia to open an antique store.
Speeding Springs was founded five years ago with a focus of offering secure, climate-controlled vehicle storage and a unique event venue, as well as a museum for automotive memorabilia, including a rotating collection of classic and exotic cars — and now an antique store on the same property.
Jones has a goal to make sure that what she is putting out on the shelves for sale will stay fresh, so people who frequent the shop will not be seeing the same items every time.
“We want to keep people's eyes interested. That's the interior decorator side of me. I want people to walk in and not only see cool stuff, but want to be there and want to hang out. Enjoy that atmosphere,” Jones said. “Not only do you have the antique store, you have a really cool hot rod museum right behind it, so you're able to look through some of these really rare, cool cars and you almost have the best of both worlds there and it's all from the same era.”
Running an antique store is different from a regular retail shop, as the used items that are in there could be upwards of 50-100 years old. For Jones, being a museum owner and having done appraisals, she has years of experience of knowing what to look for and how to distinguish what is real and what is reproduced. According to her, there is a science to maintaining the historical accuracy and the ins and outs of operating a shop that showcases antique pieces.
Her interest is in American-made antiques, where she can collect general store, gas and oil and primitive 1800s pioneer items. This specific industry of antiques is a more male-dominated field, but Jones is trying to bring a new generation in and teach them how to appreciate the history behind the items.
“There's a meaning and there's a history and there's a past to every piece you have,” Jones said. “I try to find out as much history as I can per item. I don't just go buy random stuff. That's another little special thing that I have because about 80% of my items, I can tell you where it's from.”
She added that she wants to make the antiques affordable for people to enjoy in their home, so she strategically goes and picks from barns, rather than auctions — as an old sign could be priced at $10,000, when she could find it and sell it for less.
The antique store at Speeding Springs is open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday and then, every other weekend after that to give Jones enough time to go out and pick items.
Speeding Springs is located at 7100 Creek Road in Dripping Springs. To learn more, visit www.speedingspringstx.com.
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