Co-chair Obeso-Bradley beat cancer in 2007
”
Celebrate, remember, fight back.
”
Chuck Obeso-Bradley of Hollister has every reason to embrace
that mantra, one adopted by the national American Cancer Society
Relay for Life effort.
Co-chair Obeso-Bradley beat cancer in 2007
“Celebrate, remember, fight back.”
Chuck Obeso-Bradley of Hollister has every reason to embrace that mantra, one adopted by the national American Cancer Society Relay for Life effort.
Obeso-Bradley is co-chairman with Kim Vera of this year’s Hollister Relay for Life, a combination fundraiser, walkathon, celebration and remembrance of all those whose lives have been touched by cancer. This year’s relay is set for July 31-Aug. 1, but it begins with a team kickoff meeting Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. at Paine’s Restaurant.
Today Obeso-Bradley is robust and energetic. It’s difficult to believe that cancer nearly stole his life only a few months ago.
“I’d been logistics chair for seven years,” Obeso-Bradley recalled. “I was still, in fact, going through my cancer treatments in August 2007 when I was asked to be chair. How could I not?”
Obeso-Bradley worked as a teacher and school administrator before joining the Pearson Digital Learning team. Today, his conversation slips easily between his passions: his family, education, young people and golf.
But in 2007, he noticed a lump on his neck, and visited the family doctor, even though he had no other symptoms. The visit led to a referral to a specialist, and a series of tests.
On May 1, 2007, the diagnosis came: cancer.
“It was a tonsil cancer, and what happened was the tumor was in one of my lymph glands on my neck,” Obeso-Bradley said. “It was pretty sobering to hear my five-year survivability rate. It wasn’t the percentage I hoped for.”
Surgery followed, then 32 days of daily radiation treatments. Obeso-Bradley still wears the surgery scars and the tattoos used to mark the locations for radiation doses. Every weekday for more than a month, his body was blasted with radiation from seven different directions.
“The good news is that it hadn’t traveled to other lymph nodes,” he said. But to kill cancer, physicians have to nearly kill the patient.
“It [radiation therapy] was worse than the surgery,” he said. “I couldn’t eat for about the last three weeks. I had sores in my throat and mouth and I could barely speak. That’s bad news for a school administrator and curriculum specialist.”
Today, Obeso-Bradley’s voice carries only the faintest echo that something was ever wrong.
He still has some nerve damage and a few other lingering effects of his treatment, but he’s alive.
After treatment, his survival odds were set at 90 percent the first year, 95 percent the second and he’ll be deemed cured after three years.
His second anniversary will be Aug. 17.
“The Relay became so important to me when I was diagnosed with cancer,” he said. “In Relay 2007, to walk the survivor lap with my family in tears in the stands – it hit me like a ton of bricks. That night, during the luminary when the track is lined with all these names and pictures, to walk the track and see luminaries named for me – it was so moving.”
Both the survivor lap and the luminary ceremony are part of the Relay for Life tradition. The annual event takes place at San Benito High School’s Andy Hardin Field. Last year, 1,200 people gathered there to walk through the night. Highlights are a lap around the track by cancer survivors and an evening ceremony in which candles light bags lining the track, each dedicated to one who has died or recovered from cancer.
Last year’s effort raised $184,989, and this year’s goal is $220,000. Organizers hope to have 70 teams participating in this year’s event. The theme this year is A Night at the Movies. Obeso-Bradley’s team has already adopted “The Terminator II” as its theme, with the slogan “Hasta la vista, cancer.” Another team is on board with a “Star Wars” vibe.
“One of the insidious things about cancer treatment is you don’t feel like going outside,” he said. “You don’t feel like letting people see your scar. You don’t feel like letting people know you’re wearing a damn wig. All this stuff is being done to you and it’s very difficult to feel like you’re even a part of this event.”
Through the Relay for Life “I feel like I’m healing by getting active,” Obeso-Bradley said.
One of the things cancer initially cost him was his ability to play golf. Nerve damage and a limited range of motion kept him off the links.
Before surgery, he was nearly a scratch golfer. After months of idleness, an hour-long lesson with Steve Janisch of San Juan Oaks miraculously had Obeso-Bradley near the top of his game.
Fifty-one weeks after his cancer diagnosis, Obeso-Bradley was treated to a round at Pebble Beach by longtime friend and school administrator Bob Hammond. Hammond had received two rounds as a retirement gift.
Playing what he described as “the game of a lifetime,” Obeso-Bradley shot par on the first nine holes. Then, on the famously treacherous 17th hole, he asked his caddy how to play from the tee. The caddy assured him he could make the green. “I reached for my five iron, and that was it – my first hole-in-one.”
He didn’t know it at the time, but Hammond had the whole drama on videotape, and there’s even photographic evidence of Obeso-Bradley’s San Juan Oaks signature ball being lifted from the cup.
There could have been no clearer evidence that Obeso-Bradley had fought back and beaten cancer.
Relay for Life Team Kickoff Meeting
7 p.m.
Feb. 10
Paine’s Restaurant
421 East St.
Hollister
2009 Relay for Life
July 31-Aug. 1
Andy Hardin Field
Hollister
Information: 524-1331 or 801-4615
