Our Story

My name is Tom, and it’s my pleasure to meet you. Before I go into the origins of Lucky Gems, I would like to say thank you. Without customers like you, well I wouldn’t be writing this now. So, once again, thank you. You are greatly appreciated.

In order to get to today we’ll have to travel back in time a bit. All the way back to 1987. That was the year that I joined the United States Marine Corps. I was 18 years old and sure that I was invincible. Boy was I wrong.

I was stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC. Now, if you haven’t heard by now, the water at Camp Lejeune was contaminated with all sorts of chemicals. A more accurate statement would be that the chemicals were contaminated with a little water. Unfortunately we were never informed about the situation.

Moving forward in time, five years ago, in the year 2019, I was diagnosed with stage four rectal cancer. I was 48 years old. I was given a 30 percent chance to survive two years with treatment. Well that didn’t set well with me. I’m way too stubborn to just lay down and quit. I went through the treatment, and five years later I’m still here. Cancer free.

Just when you think the battle is over you realize that the war has just begun. Three years after being diagnosed with cancer I was told that I now have Parkinson’s Disease. When it rains it pours. The P.D. is the reason Lucky Gems came about.

Unlike the cancer there is no cure for P.D. The only thing to do is try and slow the progress. I was told by my occupational therapist that the best thing to do was to stay active. She suggested that I find a hobby that would do that. I chose rockhounding and it didn’t take long for me to become hooked.

It’s been two years now, and I can say that it seems to be working. At least I have more control over my hands, and I no longer use a cane. This is great news, but there was a small side effect. I began to accumulate a lot of rocks, and I realized that there was a fine line between being a collector or being a hoarder. That’s when I got the idea to try and sell some of them, and that brings us to today.

My intentions are to offer good quality rocks for reasonable prices. Hopefully you will find that one rock that hooks you, and brings a smile to your face. If you are a long time collector already, you know you could always use just one more.

Once again thank you, and shop happy.