Terminally ill speaker offers regional students advice for living

CLARA CITY — Mark Weber has named his cancer Buford, and Buford is one big, nasty fella.

Students in teacher Carrie Kronen’s psychology and world geography classes at MACCRAY High School listen as Minnesota National Guard Lt. Col. Mark Weber explains his health conditions and talks to them about facing life’s challenges. Tribune photo by Linda Vanderwerf.

But before a liver stuffed with tumors can take his life, Weber is making the most of it.

The Army lieutenant colonel, now serving with the Minnesota National Guard, has written a book, “Tell My Sons,” and speaks with young people about dealing with life’s challenges.
In summer 2010, in the space of two weeks, Weber went from getting a job offer from Gen. David Petraeus to serve with him in Afghanistan to being diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Thursday, he spoke with area students in a live videoconference.
As students from the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart and MACCRAY school districts listened intently as he told them about his cancer, complete with X-rays and photos. He was honest with them students about his prognosis and told them that doctors believe the cancer will end his life.