Live with my life partner Zelma in Spencerport, NY
Born and raised in a small town south of Chicago, IL.
Graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Worked in the Chicago area, Mansfield, OH and for 25 years in the Rochester, NY area. Retired in 2010.
Diagnosed with stage 4 head and neck cancer in the fall of 2010 and had what turned out to be a 14-hour surgery to remove my tongue and replace it with a rotational/regional flap in November 2010. Also had daily radiation and weekly chemotherapy for five weeks. Long story, but have scars and missing muscle tissue on my leg, arm and chest from the reconstruction attempts.
Am unable to swallow without aspirating. Breathe mostly through a trach tube in my throat and all nutrition and hydration is through a PEG feeding tube into my stomach.
Have also gone through two rounds of chemotherapy and one round of radiation therapy for metastatic disease (cancer) of the liver in the last five years. Currently under control.
In spite of all that, or because of it, we have cycled over 17,000 miles in the six years since the surgery. Most of those miles are either on the Erie Canal towpath, which we can access from our back yard, or on trainers in the basement during Rochester winters.
Was fortunate and proud to be in my daughter's wedding in 2012 and to be around for my granddaughter's birth in 2013.
Probably more than you wanted to know, but it's who I am and may help to explain what you may see in pictures posted here.
HI Steve! I hav to say I relly enjoy your bolg even though I am not a bike rider. Thank you for sharing your story here. You are an inspirationt to me and many others. HUgs! Barb
ReplyDelete