The Research Evangelist

My life really has been quite an odyssey. I looked up the definition of odyssey recently: " a long series of wanderings or adventures, especially when filled with notable experiences, hardships, etc." My lung cancer experience was one of those hardships I guess.  But more importantly, it totally changed the way I looked at everything; my family, my friends, my work, my future... When you are told you have a life threatening illness like cancer, you become vulnerable.  But you also gain an inner strength to not only fight the disease, but do something!  I wanted to help other cancer patients get information to make informed decisions about their treatment options.  I was lucky, I lived in Boston, and had access to great care at Massachusetts General Hospital.  But being from Minnesota, where many of my relatives lived in rural areas, I wanted them to have the same benefit. So I became an advocate for patient education, and started to learn about cancer research.

I remember the exact moment as if it was yesterday. I was out for dinner with friends when my cell phone rang. It was my doctor from Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Lee Kaplan. I thought it was strange for him to call me at night. “Dave, it’s Lee. You need to come in to see me…we found a tumor on your lung.” My world stopped. I was a young, nonsmoker with boys were 5, 3 and 1 years old. This news stopped me dead in my tracks. If you've been diagnosed with cancer, or a loved one has, you know EXACTLY what I felt.  My life was forever changed. There were appointments with respiratory specialists, CT scans, MRIs, surgeons, and lots of time to worry “am I going to die?” After the lobectomy (removal of half of my left lung), came months of treatment and painful recovery. I kept telling myself, “one day at a time…one hour at a time…one minute at a time”. I am so thankful for my wife Missi who helped take care of me, while keeping things together for our family. It made me see the wo