I’m on a crusade to help as many families as I possibly can while I am still here.

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48 years old…August 2020 and I notice a lump on the left side of my throat. Thought it was my lymph node fighting off an infection, maybe COVID. No pain, no discomfort, just a lump. It grew to about golf ball size and then went away.

 

Four months later, it came back. This time it grew to the size of a racquetball. I started having earache and toothache-type pain, and I was beginning to have trouble swallowing.

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Finally, after being persuaded by my family, I went to the doctor and made an appointment with an ear, nose, and throat clinic. They did a scan, and after seeing the doctor, I did not feel confident. He did not seem confident either, and there was a real sense of urgency to get me to a specialist.

 

I went to a head and neck specialist in Dallas. He looked at me and, without scoping my throat, touching my neck, or doing anything more than reviewing the scan, knew exactly what I had.

 

He said, “You have cancer.”

 

He told me, “I have 3,000 patients, and the fastest-growing type of cancer in middle-aged men is HPV throat cancer.”​

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The biopsy confirmed what he said.

 

I was then sent to Dr. Modi, my chemo specialist, who prescribed aggressive treatment due to the size of the cancer. About 20% of patients with HPV throat cancer go through this same aggressive treatment.

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My treatment plan included:

• a 5-day hospital stay with 96 hours of chemotherapy

• 2 weeks off

• repeat that cycle 3 times

• then chemotherapy once per week for 8 weeks

• plus 36 rounds of radiation

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I had no idea what I was about to go through.

 

I was told all of this within a week. Emotions were everywhere. Took a month to tell anyone other than my family.

 

My main concern was simple: How am I going to work and provide for my family?

 

I had insurance, and most of the treatment was covered other than the deductible. I went into that first week of chemo trying to work, and I found out very quickly that it was not going to go well.

 

The stress of not working and not being able to support my family started to weigh heavily on me.

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Through the grace of God, I was fortunate and blessed.

 

To make a long story short, as I lay in bed praying about how I could help people going through the same thing, the givegive Throat Cancer Fund was born, because not everyone is as fortunate.

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No one ever wants to talk about cancer until they or someone they love has it.

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No one should ever have to worry about how to provide for their family while fighting the toughest battle of their life.

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I had no idea at 48 that I would get cancer.

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Neither do the people who will face it next.​​