| On the Road Again
By Doug Strawn
Until the day I was diagnosed with cancer at age 55, I’d
never really been sick a day in my life. I was far too busy living
my life to be sick.
I grew up in Canton, Ohio, pursuing an early love of music. Halfway through
high school, my family moved to California, and in 1962 I enrolled at California
State University, Long Beach.
For 10 years after graduation, I traveled the world as an original member of
the 1970s duo The Carpenters, playing woodwinds and keyboards and conducting
the group’s orchestra. When the group disbanded in 1979, I began a career
at Disney, where I eventually became director of entertainment and business
development for a newly formed division, Walt Disney Entertainment, in Orlando,
Florida.
Then in 1999, life threw me a twist (when you least expect it—expect
it, right?!). After experiencing mild flu-like symptoms for several months,
I decided to see a doctor. After an initial examination, he referred me to
an oncologist at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Orlando.
I was diagnosed with low-grade non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and almost immediately
began an initial round of chemotherapy. The toxic drugs caused me to lose 45
pounds and all of my hair, and left me without many good things to say about
chemotherapy. In fact, I can say without hesitation that chemo was far and
away the worst experience of my life.
Fortunately, though, the chemo did its job and my cancer went into remission
after six months.
When it reappeared in early 2002, I dreaded the thought of undergoing chemo
a second time. I asked my doctor if he could use external radiation to knock
out the small lump that had formed in my groin. But he had a very different
therapy in mind. He recommended a new drug called ZevalinTM (ibritumomab
tiuxetan) that would deliver small molecules of radiation directly to cancer
cells throughout my body while—thankfully—sparing me the horrible
side effects of chemo.
Needless to say, I’m grateful that if I had to have this disease, I had
it at a time when there are several new, advanced drugs that provide alternatives
to chemotherapy.
I received my Zevalin treatment in May 2002, becoming the first patient in
central Florida to receive the therapy. I experienced a slight fever the day
after injection of the therapeutic dose, but was immediately able to get back
to my normal routines, going about my days without any limitations. I didn’t
lose my hair or experience the nausea and vomiting I’d gone through with
previous therapies. Better still, my cancer went into complete remission.
A CT scan taken nearly a year after my treatment showed no detectable signs
of cancer. It’s amazing to go to your doctor and hear that you don’t
have any more cancer in your body!
For the first time since the awful day in 1999 when I learned I had cancer,
I began anticipating many good, healthy years ahead. In June 2002, after I
learned my cancer was in remission, my wife Nancy and I moved to Big Fort,
Montana, where we had been vacationing for years. We opened a restaurant called
Doug & Nan’s Café and now live year-round on Flathead Lake
in the Rocky Mountains.
I continue to nurture my love of music by running a music camp for junior high
and high school students each summer near my home. The camp brings young people
from throughout the western United States to Montana for two weeks to indulge
their love of music and the outdoors and to learn from a talented faculty of
distinguished musicians.
I’m continually inspired by the cutting-edge treatment options now available
to people diagnosed with cancer. It’s really like a miracle and I’m
humbled and extremely thankful for what medical science can do. I’m grateful
there are increasing numbers of options that can enable more and more of us
to live longer, fuller lives.
Doug Strawn lives in Big Fort, Montana.
Send your 700-word essays on cancer to mweber@curetoday.com.
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