What More Proof Do You Need?

A short video from oral cancer survivor Rick Bender.  Thank to rogjames on the forums for pointing it out.

Video Transcript

I started using tobacco when I was about 12 years old. Mainly spit tobacco. At the age of 26 I was diagnosed with oral cancer because of that use. I lost a third of my tongue, half my jaw, partial use of my right arm as well as I was only given two years to live.

You know, experimenting 12 years old, 13 years old, I didn’t want nothing to do with cigarettes, along comes an add, take a pinch instead of a puff, safe alternative and then baseball… I was a ballplayer so I associated with the game of baseball.

I first saw the sore when I was around 25 but I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 26. I kind of saw a little sore and I’d quit and it would go away, it kinda did and then it came back and basically metastasized, and became a bit ulcerated lesion on the side of my tongue.

So you know I was just typical, 26, you don’t get cancer when you’re 26. Nobody does… who gets cancer when they’re 26?