Airman overcomes cancer Published Sept. 7, 2006 By 1st Lt. Lisa Ferguson 43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- Most Airmen remember taking leave en route to their first duty station. You've just left technical training, and you head home one last time to see the parents. That trip may have saved the life of one of Team Pope's Airmen. Senior Airman Warren Spearman Jr. joined the Air Force March 15, 2004, and became a videographer after completing tech school in January 2005. Airman Spearman was taking a few days leave at home in Clinton, N.C., to enjoy the comforts of his bed and his mother's home-cooked meals one last time before making his way to Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. "I woke up one morning with a stomachache that wouldn't go away," Airman Spearman said. "I went to the Urgent Care Clinic in Clinton to see what was wrong. They ran tests, but everything came back normal." Airman Spearman said the next day is a day he'll never forget. "I was told to come back the next day for some more tests over at the local hospital," he said. "I got the tests done at 10 a.m., and was back at the Urgent Care Clinic at 12:30 to get the results." Airman Spearman was told in late January he had a six centimeter mass inside his left kidney. He has a very curable form of cancer, known as Non-Hodkins Lymphoma, but it was cancer nonetheless. "When they told me I had cancer, I didn't even really have any thoughts," the Airman said. "I was just stunned and didn't feel anything for the first hour or two. I actually got lunch before going home to tell my parents." Airman Spearman ate a hot dog, french fries and a soda, and sat for a while thinking how to tell his family before heading home. "When I got home, my dad was home early from work," he said. "He was really shocked." Then his mom came home, and he told her. "I don't think my mom believed me at first," he said. "She never cried in front of me, though. She went upstairs, and later she told me that's when she cried." Airman Spearman's two sisters took the news hard, too. Airman Spearman was referred to Womack Army Medical Center, where the urologist, Dr. Edmond Paquette, laid it all out for him. "That's when I really began to get angry and think 'Why me?'" he said. The six centimeter mass was removed on Feb. 24, 2005, and what was supposed to be a routine surgery turned into a nine-hour marathon. "Part of the mass had attached itself to my pancreas, and they cut my pancreas when they took out the mass, which caused a lot of bleeding," he said. "I almost had to have a transfusion." Airman Spearman ended up having another surgery to repair his pancreas. Chemotherapy started in mid-April and lasted through July. Radiation began in August. All the surgeries, treatments and 63 days in the hospital caused the 6-foot-tall Airman to plummet from his normal weight of 145 pounds to about 118, which is the lowest number he remembers seeing on a scale. Through it all Airman Spearman said his faith in God and the love of his family pulled him through this. "I owe God, my family and the people at Womack so many thanks for everything they did for me," he said. After his treatment was complete, doctors wanted to keep an eye on Airman Spearman, so he was assigned to the 43rd Medical Support Squadron at Pope, where he copies medical records for Pope's patients. Airman Spearman went before a medical evaluation board and was returned to active duty. He received confirmation of his status this summer. "Now I'm heading to Lackland AFB, [Texas] in November, where I'll finally get to be a videographer," he said. This experience has changed Airman Spearman's outlook on life. "I don't take life too seriously anymore," he said. "I take it one day at a time. Cancer knows no age, body type or race." Airman Spearman hopes to make a career in the Air Force, but for now he's busy working in patient records and lending his time to other cancer victims. "[Getting cancer] showed me that I was tough," he said. "I didn't think I was tough before that. It instilled that in me."