Letters Without Limits, founded by students at Johns Hopkins and Brown University, connects volunteers with palliative care and hospice patients to co-create “Legacy Letters.” These letters capture memories, values and lessons that patients wish to share, preserving stories that might otherwise be lost. By honoring these voices and preserving legacies, Letters Without Limits hopes to affirm the central role of humanism in medicine, reminding us that every patient is more than their illness and that their voices deserve to be heard. As you read these powerful Legacy Letters, we invite you to pause, reflect and recognize the beauty in every life.
Interviewer’s Note
Mr. Jesse Tetterton is a man of endless positivity and energy. From the moment I sat down with him, I could feel his joy, warmth and deep faith that he puts in every story he tells. Mr. Tetterton will see the good in everything: the lessons, the blessings, the humor. He has a way of lifting you up without even trying. It’s contagious.
Introduction
To my dear family, friends and those who may read this in the years to come,
Life always has meaning. No matter where you go, life always has some meaning. You see, life is like a game of chess. Every move you make matters, but you got to know yourself first before you can know anything else. You got to go slowly, like a child growing up. That baby don't know how to walk until certain limbs inside its body grow, and then when those limbs grow, its desires grow too.
Humble Beginnings
I grew up on North Avenue when I was real little, and then we moved to Chester Street in 1968 when I was about seven or eight years old. We didn’t feel the feeling of poorness. It became a feeling of love because we smiled. My mother and my father and my sisters always had a cheerful love. Now I didn’t say problems didn’t come along. I said they had a cheerful smile.
One time, when my parents weren’t home, all we had in the house was cheese and bread. Now, some people might have looked at that and said we were poor, but we didn’t feel poor. We put that cheese and bread in the oven, and we had ourselves a meal. And I tell you, that was some good cheese and bread! Hehe. Certain things were meant for a reason: to learn, to grow and to flourish our lives. This is how God's love flatters all of us as a people. We learn from what we have to, so we can become what we become.
My mother once bought me a wagon, and I used that wagon to help her with groceries from the brown supermarket on Washington Street. I loved doing things for others. Anything, anything I can do. There was an old man next door who had a vegetable store, Mr. N. He was a big fat man always standing behind the cash register. Mr. N. was a good old man, and I’d help him out sometimes. He’d give me that look — you know how parents got that look — and I’d grab whatever he needed. Then he'd say, “Go on about your business,” and hand me a popsicle. He’d always say it the same way every time. “Go on about your business. Go on about your business.” Hehe. He was a good man.
Family and Loss
Our family grew in different ways. We adopted T. when she was about seven years old.
She came to us from Miss D., and my mother offered to take her in as part of our family. T. was a good young lady, and we loved her until she left us when she was around 17. She had her own reasons.
Then there was my sister P. We lost her when I was about 13 in a fire. She was having a pajama party. The neighbors couldn’t open the door, and all the children inside were burnt. I don’t think too much on that.
Loss is part of life, but God’s truth is always around us. I don't care what nobody else says. God’s truth never lies. There is no failure in God. Even when you think you got it all figured out and you did something, there's always something else. That’s when you say, "Lord, where you? I don’t know what to do." And when you say “I don’t know what to do,” the Lord will take that something and make it something more.
My grandmother took me to church when I was very young and had me prayed over many times. She died when I was about three years old, but she planted that seed. Later, I met a friend named C.K. — he was an older man who brought me to the Lord, and from there, my life line began to start in Christ. He didn’t show me. He only could tell me of the word of God, teach me the word of God, let me know about the word of God, love me and let God do the rest. C.K. was like a grandfather and father to me until he died at 88 years old.
Work and Challenges
Life gave me its challenges. I had epilepsy, and that made it hard for people to hire me. But I found work in offset printing, printing papers and cards like they do at a newspaper. I learned how to buffer and strip floors too. It wasn’t always easy, but it was a good job, something to hold onto.
Now, I barely have any epilepsy seizures.
Love and Friendship
I was blessed to find love with my wife Evelyn. We met at an epilepsy foundation, and I took her to church with me. She was sweet and kind, a gentle person. She also had seizures like me. Though our time together was shorter than we wanted, we had our good turns. She passed away, but the love remains.
I’ve been blessed with good friends too. B.H. has been my friend for 56 years. We met at church, and we did everything together, playing ball, going out with our girlfriends, sharing marbles, singing with each other’s families. Friendships show how God works through others to bless us.
Music, Art and Sharing
Music and art have been my way of sharing God’s love. When I first got my guitar, I couldn’t play anything. Now I can play “In the Upper Room,” “You Sweet I Know” and “A Little Walk with Jesus.”
Music is great, but you got to learn how to see the meaning in the readings of words and music. Some people bring their music out in a nasty way, but that’s not becoming.
I love to draw my favorite parts of life. It don’t have to be one thing, it can be many things. I love sharing with my brothers and sisters because people love to share with me. That’s what makes life rich. The sharing, the love, the connections we make.
Wisdom for the Journey
Here’s what I want you to know about making your way in life: The tactic of life itself is to know yourself first. When you make a move, be more conscious of how you make your move. It’s just like that chessboard. Don't blame nothing on somebody else for what you’ve done. You made your move how you wanted to make your move. When you think on it like that, you say to yourself, "I gotta be more cautious."
When your cautiousness starts making a move, do it rightly and honestly for yourself. Because when you do, you’ll be more clear-minded in what you do and how you do for the next step. Being honest is key. God is God in many climates of life. We have to learn it, and it don’t come all at once the way you want it. It comes in the time that He gives us.
Remember this about friends and trust: When one says to another "friend," did you ever notice how some people react? One says "friend" and has a holding trust in their heart with God for themselves and to love the friend. Another person says "friend" as a wicked person can say it, just disturbed and trying to make a fool out of you. You have to study as God gives you the way to study, to see your friend from the untrue friend, the evil from the good and the good from the evil. God will give you that trustee so you may come to understand.
If you ever want a father you can depend on, He's the one on high. And your mother and your father you have, depend on and honor them. Thank God for them. When you think you got it all figured out, there's always something more to learn. When you don’t know what to do, that’s when you see it’s all Him.
Final Thoughts and Blessings
Most important, remember this.
Life is how you make it.
Not how I make it.
It’s how YOU make it, blessed with God’s love in Jesus’s name.
Your want will help you decide what you desire and what you don’t desire.
Above all, seek after yourself in Jesus's name.
He was actually seeking for us before we was seeking for Him.
Life is like that blueberry pie, man.
You don’t know anything until you taste it.
Everybody has a different seasoning.
The steps that we make is the steps that we take, but God is in control.
He knows today, and He knows tomorrow.
May God bless you, guide you, and keep you always.
With love and faith,
Jesse Tetterton
Letters Without Limits is a student-led initiative founded at Johns Hopkins and Brown University that partners with palliative care and hospice patients to create “Legacy Letters,” autobiographical narratives capturing memories, values and lessons patients wish to share. Their primary goal is to spread these stories so that every patient’s voice is heard. Follow them on Instagram @letterswithoutlimits and read more Legacy Letters on their website.
