When Jason Plummer was growing up in Westbrook, there were always two cartons of egg nog in the fridge at his house during the winter: one for him and one for everyone else.
Last week, Terri Brown saw that her son’s favorite beverage had hit the shelves for the season and brought a carton to him at the Gosnell Memorial Hospice House in Scarborough.
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“He drank it all,” said Brown.
Plummer, 35, died Saturday due to complications from hemochromatosis, a genetic blood disorder that causes the body to absorb excess iron.
After graduating from Westbrook High School, Plummer went on to Southern Maine Technical College, now Southern Maine Community College, where he got certified as a heating, ventilation and air conditioning technician and as an electrician, which he chose as his career for more than a decade.
Plummer was living in an apartment in Buxton, where he moved in April after being diagnosed with the disorder, said Brown.
She said he had suffered from fatigue and joint pain for a couple of years without knowing what was wrong. By the time he found out, his liver, pancreas and heart were severely damaged.
Plummer had been in hospice for about a week before Saturday night, when he looked at his mother, squeezed her hand and passed away.
Before that, Brown said, he had been making the nurses laugh with his dry one-liners — the same thing that kept her spirits up as she watched his health deteriorate.
“He saw the light, even at the darkest moment,” she said.
Brown said her son was set in his ways and meticulous. His checkbook was always in order and his car was always clean.
“He’s like a 35-year-old old man,” she said.
Plummer was a homebody who was happy to hang out with his dogs and rent a movie. He liked action-packed films with superheroes. He watched “The Avengers” five times while he was in the hospital, Brown said.
Plummer is also survived by his father, Larry Plummer of Portland, and his sister, Jayme Plummer, who lives in Texas.
He and Brown, who lives in Poland, had a particularly close relationship, she said.
They saw each other about once a week.
Often, she’d cook his favorite meals and bring them to him. He liked her zucchini bread the best.
They talked on the phone every couple of days and, if they didn’t, they’d exchange text messages just to say, “Are you all right?” and “I love you,” his mother said.
Staff Writer Leslie Bridgers can be contacted at: 791-6364 or at
lbridgers@pressherald.com
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