Jessica McMinn Tennant turned down an aisle in the Walmart where she was shopping and was surprised to see a man she had never met wearing a T-shirt supporting her husband's fight against cancer.

It's been more than three months since her husband, Brian, a Waynesburg police officer who turns 27 today, was diagnosed with a grade 3 glioma on his brain stem. Tumors like his are almost unheard of in someone older than 10.

Since Mr. Tennant's diagnosis in March, the Greene County community has rallied around the family, raising more than $50,000 by selling T-shirts and bracelets and hosting events like today's first Greene Ride to help fund the family's upcoming trip to Beijing for an experimental treatment.

The generosity at times has made Mrs. McMinn Tennant feel a little odd, like that day in Walmart.

"You smile about it because that's pretty great that people are being supportive," she said. "Sometimes, I'm like, 'wow, it must really be that bad.' "

Mr. Tennant, who also is a volunteer firefighter, would prefer not to be in the limelight. He'd rather be outside his two-story house, doing chores, talking to neighbors, playing with his two sons, Ross, who will be 2, and Blake, 9 months.

"I don't want to be made into a charity case, but the output of support has been tremendous," he said.

In January, Officer Tennant had one of the most dramatic experiences of his career. Waynesburg Police Chief Timothy M. Hawfield recalls it being one of those nights when the roads were iced over and the thermometer hovered slightly above zero.

Officer Tennant was in his squad car on patrol. Late that night he got a call for what turned out to be one of the county's few fatal house fires in years. Two children died, but Officer Tennant saved two others and their mother.

That month, Officer Tennant began to get headaches.

When they didn't stop, he and his wife went to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., where the doctors performed a routine CT scan, not expecting to find anything. His doctors immediately ordered him to undergo an MRI, and the next day, the doctor gave him the results.

" 'I don't how to say it but this is bad, this is really bad,' " Mr. Tennant recalled his doctor telling him.

The doctors gave him between five and 10 years to live. He and his wife then turned to specialists, first in Pittsburgh and most recently at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where he received chemotherapy treatment that he hoped at least would reduce the size of his tumor before he and his family traveled to Beijing.

The treatment at Cellonis Biotechnologies in Beijing is experimental, but the family is hoping Mr. Tennant will be one of their success stories. In late 2009, the same treatment may have eliminated a similar glioma in a 36-year-old Norwegian patient.

Still, the Tennants wonder if they are making the right decision.

"We're always second-guessing our decision because we feel like so desperate in our situation that obviously if someone is offering a cure of the smallest chance, you're going to jump at it with both feet," Mrs. McMinn Tennant said.

The decision to move the family to Beijing for four months is not one they are making lightly.

"If it were in Canada I'd feel better about it," said Officer Tennant.

The clinic in Beijing has made strides in glioma treatment by taking samples from the tumor and the blood to train the body to attack the cancer stem cells and fight the disease off naturally.

When Mr. Tennant brought the treatment up to his doctors in the U.S., not one of them tried to dissuade him from going. They said they had heard of the treatment, have understood the success in some clients and wished him luck.

The treatment costs $50,000, which does not include living expenses or travel, and is not covered by the Tennants' health insurance. So far, the fundraising efforts should cover the expenses of the treatment, but more must be raised for the cost of living in Beijing.

Mrs. McMinn Tennant had to leave her job as a nurse in the intensive care unit at Allegheny General Hospital to care for her husband. Mr. Tennant is on disability.

Since Mr. Tennant began taking steroids to counteract the side effects of his chemotherapy, he has gained 50 pounds and been dealing with persistent insomnia and nausea.

When he's at his worst, he can manage to eat only Popsicles and soup. Then, he remains on the couch with a trash can beside him. At other times, he and his wife watch shows like the Travel Channel's "Man vs. Food."

Life without her husband is a prospect that is sinking in, but it's the minutia of life without her confidant and partner that's scariest for Mrs. McMinn Tennant.

The couple jokes that she is a terrible driver, and she concedes she probably is.

"Normally if I would be driving, he would say, 'Oh my God, you're never teaching my kids how to drive.' That would be a normal conversation people at our point in our lives would say," she said. "Because of the cancer, the conversation is now, 'I have to be around until they drive because I don't want you to teach them.' "

The couple can laugh for a few minutes, but thoughts always return to the tumor that is threatening Brian Tennant's life, his wife said. "That's the part I can't get over."

Registration for the Greene County Ride is from 10 a.m. to noon today at Waynesburg Yamaha, 310 Elm Ave. The 70-mile ride begins at 12:30 p.m.

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