Remembering Paul Meyers
On March 31, 2012, the 40th annual Andrew Jackson Half Marathon, a Boston Marathon qualifier, started out like any other. Race registrants filed in, signed up and made their way to the starting line.
Nurse Johnna Beurelein found herself keeping pace with a fellow she’d registered right behind earlier that morning. She noticed she was running unusually fast that day, impressed that she could keep up with this clearly accomplished runner.
Though they’d never met, Beurelein remembered his name from registration – Paul Meyers.
When 33-year-old Meyers, a Vestavia native, collapsed mid-race, Beurelein rushed to his side. She took him to nearby Regional Hospital, where Meyers, having succumbed to sudden cardiac arrest, was pronounced dead on arrival.
For those who knew Meyers, a compassionate public defender in Jackson, Tennessee, news of his death was unfathomable, especially for one of his closest friends, Todd Wood, who ran the race with Meyers and crossed the finish line before learning Meyers was gone.
“Paul’s genuine interest in positively impacting his family, friends and others was always evident and drew people to him,” Wood said recently. “My wife and I feel so fortunate that Paul was part of our lives. We cherish our time with him.”
Several years before Meyer’s untimely death, Meyers had lost his father due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. At that time, he and his three siblings, Laura Ann Meyers Daly, a digital photography teacher at VHHS, Margie Meyers Davidson, a Vestavia stay-at-home mom of one, and Vestavia resident Julia Meyers, an account executive with the American Cancer Society, aggressively investigated all traces of the disease in their genetic history. They sought out screenings and thought they were managing their risks effectively.
“It was a total shock,” said Julia. “Paul was very healthy, and very religious about going to the gym and watching what he ate. To see someone who is strong, young and athletic, just the epitome of good health, die from a heart attack while running a half marathon – it was just unbelievable.”
In the aftermath of Meyers’ death, his family stayed in close contact with Beurelein, who just two months later was fundraising with an annual 5K run in Jackson, Tennessee, and decided to convince her team to rename the race as the Paul Meyers Run for Haiti.
“This woman had been so amazing for our family,” said Julia. “In turn, we wanted to do something to honor Paul’s memory and to raise money for her mission team.”
The result came a year later as the first annual Paul Meyers Memorial Golf Tournament. Beurelein’s Haitian medical missions team was designated as beneficiary. Last year’s inaugural event, a late-afternoon mix of traditional and glow-in-the-dark golf, with dinner and band party entertainment at Highlands Golf Course, sold out and generated $17,000 in proceeds.
After a successful tournament in 2013, the Meyers sisters created the Paul Meyers Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports three core priorities: to provide medical treatment to severely underprivileged people; to provide safety and rehabilitation to victims of human trafficking, a passion that aligns closely with much of what Meyers saw in his work as a public defender; and to educate the general public on the importance of early and continual screening for heart disease.
“Paul had a huge heart for the underprivileged, especially children,” said Margie. “As a public defender in Jackson, he often represented people who had no means to pay for legal representation. When he saw how different their lives were, it impacted him so much.”
To that end, Meyers became a frequent visitor to the Western Mental Health Institute in Bolivar, Tennessee. He soon realized that there was a ward for mentally ill children who had been cast from their homes with little hope of returning to society. For several years he worked to make sure these forgotten children had a special Christmas.
“He had a real heart for all of that,” said Julia. “So we feel really good about supporting the Haiti medical missions work through Johnna – it’s the kind of work Paul really would have rallied behind. The $17,000 we raised last year was huge for a small organization like theirs – it allowed them to take another mission trip to the area.”
On April 5, the sisters, along with their mother, Gayle, will host the 2nd Annual Paul Meyers Memorial Golf Tournament. For more information or to register, visit paulmeyersmemorialgolftournament.com/#.