He faces future with late grandparents’ inspiration

Barron Williams, 19, plays saxophone and piano in a band, Young Dream Chasers, and he is trying to learn drums.

“I went to live with my grandparents when I was 13. They were like my parents. They raised me as their son. And I helped take care of them until the end. I would go with them to their appointments in Houston, and there were a lot of them. But I made sure they never missed them. They both passed away from cancer. My grandpa had thyroid cancer and my grandma had leukemia. It got them pretty fast.

“For a long time, I felt lost. It was kind of like when they cut a person’s finger off, they still think it’s there. They still feel it. I would wake up saying, ‘Hey, mama and papa,’ but they weren’t there. I was pretty sad for a while. But then I was like, you know, they’re not struggling anymore. They’re not suffering anymore. They wouldn’t want me to be sad. They would want me to continue trying to better myself in life.

“If you have a dream, you have to work to make it come true. It’s not going to happen just like that. People don’t sell houses sitting down. You’ve got to go out there and work for it. Sometimes it takes patience. Sometimes you have to go through hell and high water to reach your goal. But in the end, it will be worth it.”

— Barron Williams