A 24-year-old BYU student from Farmington died on Jan. 13, 2006 because of complications from open-heart surgery. Jordan Kimball Fower's funeral service will be Saturday at 11 a.m. in the Farmington 14th Ward Steed Creek Chapel.

Over Christmas break he made a doctor's appointment to check up on back pains. The doctor suspected his heart was enlarged and after running tests, contacted the family calling Jordan's condition "a medical emergency."

He had an aortic dissection, which occurs when a tissue tears on the inside of the aorta. This caused blood to go between the layers of tissue where it reached a dead end and leaked back to the heart, said Jana Fowers, Jordan's mother.

Jordan Fowers, a senior studying finance, was expected to graduate in 2007. He sang in the BYU Men's Chorus, taught Spanish at the Missionary Training Center and worked in the Provo Temple.

It was a year into his mission in Chihuahua, Mexico, during a basketball game, when he first felt a pain in his chest. Jordan's doctor believes this is when the aortic dissection took place, his mother said.

Fower's friends and family believe he was one of the most prepared people to pass on. He was thought to be a very spiritual and positive person.

"He's about as close to Celestial as you can get on this earth," said Kimberly Oldham, a graduate student from San Diego, Calif.

Both Oldham and her husband, Josh, were good friends with Fowers and remember him as being the kind of person that everyone wanted to be around. Everyone was so impressed with him that it became a tradition to clap when he came into the room, Oldham said.

"I know it's cliché that only the good die young, but he was the nicest guy I know," said Patrick Kramer, a roommate who had been friends with Fowers since high school. He kept me sane. It was like yin and yang. I'm kind of pessimistic, and he made me see the bright side of things."

He was diligent in keeping a personal journal and spent a lot of time before his surgery writing in it.

"I hope that at my waning hours I can say that I made this world a happier place," Fowers wrote in his journal. "I hope I can say - like Paul - I've fought a good fight. I want to be able to look back and not have regrets, shame or remorse. I don't care if anyone remembers me by name or builds a monument in my honor, but I hope one song I've sung, one testimony I've shared, one hug I've given, one smile might have helped someone come closer to God and blessed them. I hope."

(For comments, e-mail Karianne Salisbury at skariann@gmail.com)

Copyright Brigham Young University 19 Jan 2006