The Good Fight / Cancer survivor tells his tale of tobacco
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By Jamie Lampros
Standard-Examiner Correspondent
CLEARFIELD -- The first time Gruen Von Behrens tried spit tobacco at the age of 13, he felt dizzy and threw up.
Today, the 31-year-old Illinois man, who spoke to students at Clearfield Job Corps on Tuesday, says he wishes that had been enough to deter him from using tobacco. Instead, he went on to become addicted and ended up battling a situation far worse than he could have imagined.
When he was a junior in high school, Von Behrens noticed a small white bump on the side of his tongue. The bump started to grow, and within nine months split his tongue in half.
Von Behrens didn't want to break his mother's heart when she asked him why he was drooling and slurring his speech, so he told her his wisdom teeth were coming in.
"One day she told me we were going to the mall," Von Behrens said. "When we got to the turnoff, she just kept driving. Instead of going to the mall, she drove two blocks further to the dentist's office."
Just before the dentist sedated him, Von Behrens told him he didn't need his wisdom teeth pulled. Instead, he told the dentist he had oral cancer. It took only one look inside Von Behrens' mouth for the doctor to agree.
Von Behrens had immediate surgery, but it wasn't to pull his wisdom teeth. It was to cut out half of his tongue to get rid of the oral cancer invading his mouth. That took 13 hours, followed by a one-month recovery in the hospital.
His nightmare didn't stop there. Surgeons also made an incision from ear to ear to make sure the cancer hadn't spread to his lymph nodes. Radiation burned his face and mouth. His teeth rotted and he had to get dentures. A bone from his femur was transplanted into his jaw to rebuild his face. Skin from his thigh replaced the missing skin on his face. Muscles from his chest helped to rebuild the inside of his mouth. He lost 70 pounds.
"I used to be a really hot guy. I was ripped," he said. "But this is what tobacco did to me. I'm not here to tell you that you're a bad person if you (use) spit tobacco or smoke.
That would make me a hypocrite. But I am here to let you know that the choices you make today may affect you for the rest of your life."
Today Von Behrens' face is disfigured from the cancer. His speech is difficult to understand.
"I know I'm hard to understand, but please bear with me and listen as closely as possible," he said. "Tobacco ruined my life. I never thought of the long term affects. I was only 13."
Von Behrens was also a high school baseball star with a .400 batting average. He wanted to play for the Chicago Cubs. Now, he travels the country showing mostly teenagers what tobacco did to his dreams.
"At 17 you're not supposed to have to face life and death issues, but because I chose to spit tobacco I had to face it. I was given a 25 percent chance to live," he said.
"I don't like the way I look, but I am still thankful for the blessings God gives me every day. Take a good hard look at my face. I hope it makes you make the right decisions in your life, because God knows, I wish I would have."
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For those that don't have the opportunity to see Gruen speak, they can check out the following website for a very graphic story: www.outdoortexan.com Scroll down to "My Cancer" in the middle of the home page.
I wish Gruen the best of luck in remaining cancer free I commend his advocacy of smoke and chew cessation.