FAIR GAME:

One of the people I’m most proud of in my life is my niece, Brooke Dutchover, “Booger” as I like to call her.

Brooke has had her fair share of challenges in life and has always overcome them in glowing fashion. The most notable of these is perhaps the realization at a young age that her father made a choice in life between drugs and her. Drugs, unfortunately, won out.

She’s now witnessed his continued self-destruction from a distance for almost 20 years.

She and her mom, my sister Carol, moved in with my family when Brooke wasn’t quite 1. She became like another daughter to me.

A few years later she “adopted” a new dad, Derin, when her mom remarried. They added a younger sister, Alyssa, to the mix.

Today, Brooke attends the University of Nevada in Reno where she’s successfully studying to become a teacher.

I’m proud to say she’s a great kid in every way. Gregarious, cuter than cute could be, fun to be with, compassionate and more. People genuinely like her.

However, last week Brooke experienced another one of those life-changing moments.

It was Thursday. Brooke, who works in an after-school program summer camp, had taken a bunch of kids on a field trip to a local amusement park. They were all lining up preparing to enter.

It was supposed to be a happy time.

Her cellphone began ringing and she stepped away to answer it. A man on the other end of the line identified himself and said he was with the United States Marine Corps.

He was looking for Kathy Hamilton. Kathy was a co-worker of Brooke and was with her at the amusement park.

He wanted to know where to find her.

As she hung up the phone, she came to a sudden realization: Kathy had an 18-year-old son serving in the Marine Corps in Iraq.

Brooke immediately called her mom at home crying hysterically.

Minutes later, while still trying to explain to her mom what was going on, three Marines, two in dress blues and one non-uniformed, arrived on the scene. The non-uniformed officer asked Brooke to take him to Kathy, who was now inside the park with the children.

As they walked together, Brooke, still crying almost uncontrollably, told the gentleman how proud she was of him and thanked him for all he has done in service to our country.

Together, they found Kathy.

As Brooke continued to cry, the man introduced himself to Kathy and asked her to follow him outside.

Kathy appeared completely confused and kept saying, “Brooke, I don’t understand. What is going on?”

Brooke in her state couldn’t answer.

As they exited the park Kathy looked up and saw the two uniformed Marines. They asked her to come have a seat.

But she stopped walking. She knew. She dropped to the ground and started screaming.

“Don’t tell me; I don’t want to know! Tell me it’s not true,” she wailed.

A parent’s worst nightmare was about to become reality.

The Marines informed her that her 18 year-old son, Lance Cpl. Jeremy Z. Long had been killed in combat.

They escorted her off to a waiting car to take her home to her husband and other children.

One can only imagine how Kathy’s life, in a split second, is forever changed.

Brooke’s life has been forever affected too.

It brought the other side of the world and the many problems and issues there into her happy and somewhat innocent college life.

Brooke is asking for prayers for Jeremy and his family.

Jeremy would have been 19 on Sept. 3. He was due to come home next month.

He leaves behind his mother and father, Kathy and Bill Hamilton; a 22-year-old brother, Zachary; a 15-year-old sister, Samantha; and a stepbrother, Drew, 18.

Donations may be sent to the Jeremy Long Memorial Fund, c/o Caughlin Club, 4100 Caughlin Parkway, Reno, NV 89519.

is the publisher. Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at (714) 966-4664 or send story ideas to dailypilot@latimes.com.