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Throat cancer survivor scares smoke out of youth

04 Friday Nov 2011

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Don Young, 66, is a man on a mission to direct teens and young adults to refrain from smoking. His methods are scary, but they work.

“I’m compelled to tell my story and make young people afraid to smoke,” said Young, who lives in St. Charles.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), smoking is the single leading preventable cause of death in the nation, and each day, about 4,000 American youth aged 12-17 smoke their first cigarette.

Determined to change those statistics, Young presents thought-provoking programs at area schools, colleges, churches, youth organizations, public forums, medical schools and corporations, sharing his cancer experience with more than 40,000 people per year.

Young started smoking at age 14 and in 1992, at the age of 48, he was diagnosed with throat cancer, caused by 34 years of a two-pack-a-day smoking habit.

A series of operations and treatments saved Young’s life but left him unable to speak. He is unable to breathe or talk normally through his nose or mouth; a hole in his throat that opens directly to his lungs (a tracheotomy) allows him to breathe. To speak, he must use an electronic voice box, which produces a robot-like speech pattern. To eat and drink, Young inserts a two-foot tube down his throat every morning to dilate the opening.

It is said a picture is worth a 1,000 words, and Young’s photo presentations say it all, vividly illustrating his story in graphic detail, as Young documented the course of his illness by photographing his surgeries and treatments.

His programs are intended to shock, and they do.

Kathleen Graham, who teaches at St. Charles High School, connected with Young through her classes on peer facilitating in which students are trained to help their classmates solve teen problems.

“It’s hard not to gush when talking about Don Young,” Graham said. “He is a wonderful human being who genuinely cares about people, both young and old. Don hopes his story will warn others not to make his mistakes. He has been through so much, and it’s a miracle that he’s still alive. Students seem to truly respect his honesty, and he always commands their respect when he addresses them.”

Over the years, Graham said, she has seen many students attribute their decision to remain tobacco-free due to Young’s presentations.

Cancer-free since 1993, Young has garnered numerous honors and awards, including the 1997 St. Louis American Cancer Society “Volunteer of the Year.” He volunteers for many organizations, including the American Lung Association, the Tobacco-Free Missouri – St. Louis Coalition, the National Council of Alcohol & Drug Abuse and others that fight tobacco and drug use.

Amazingly, Young has participated in the Senior Olympics in track and field, javelin, jumping, shot put, and more. He carried the Senior Olympic Torch in St. Louis in 1996, 2000 and 2004. In 2000, he was named Coping magazine’s “Cancer Survivor of the Year.”

He continues to work with young people in sports, at church, at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and performing as a Shriners clown.

Through it all, Young aims to make a difference.

“I know not everyone will stop smoking, but some will, and that’s worth it,” he said.

By Sheila Frayne Rhoades

Article originally appeared on page 34 of the December 8, 2010 issue of Mid Rivers Newsmagazine. (Original Article)

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Cigarette Smoking and Cardiovascular Diseases

26 Monday Jan 2009

Posted by in Tobacco Information

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AHA Scientific Position
Cigarette smoking is the most important preventable cause of premature death in the United States. It accounts for nearly 440,000 of the more than 2.4 million annual deaths. Cigarette smokers have a higher risk of developing several chronic disorders. These include fatty buildups in arteries, several types of cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (lung problems). Atherosclerosis (buildup of fatty substances in the arteries) is a chief contributor to the high number of deaths from smoking. Many studies detail the evidence that cigarette smoking is a major cause of coronary heart disease, which leads to heart attack.

How does smoking affect coronary heart disease risk?
Cigarette and tobacco smoke, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity and diabetes are the six major independent risk factors for coronary heart disease that you can modify or control. Cigarette smoking is so widespread and significant as a risk factor that the Surgeon General has called it “the leading preventable cause of disease and deaths in the United States.”

Cigarette smoking increases the risk of coronary heart disease by itself. When it acts with other factors, it greatly increases risk. Smoking increases blood pressure, decreases exercise tolerance and increases the tendency for blood to clot. Smoking also increases the risk of recurrent coronary heart disease after bypass surgery.

Cigarette smoking is the most important risk factor for young men and women. It produces a greater relative risk in persons under age 50 than in those over 50.

Women who smoke and use oral contraceptives greatly increase their risk of coronary heart disease and stroke compared with nonsmoking women who use oral contraceptives.

Smoking decreases HDL (good) cholesterol. Cigarette smoking combined with a family history of heart disease also seems to greatly increase the risk.

What about cigarette smoking and stroke and peripheral arterial disease?
Studies show that cigarette smoking is an important risk factor for stroke. Inhaling cigarette smoke produces several effects that damage the cerebrovascular system. Women who take oral contraceptives and smoke increase their risk of stroke many times. Smoking also creates a higher risk for peripheral arterial disease and aortic aneurysm.

What about cigar and pipe smoking?
People who smoke cigars or pipes seem to have a higher risk of death from coronary heart disease (and possibly stroke), but their risk isn’t as great as that of cigarette smokers. This is probably because they’re less likely to inhale the smoke. Currently there’s very little scientific information on cigar and pipe smoking and cardiovascular disease, especially among young men, who represent the vast majority of cigar users.

What about passive or secondhand smoke?
The link between seconhand smoke (also called environmental tobacco smoke) and disease is well known, and the connection to cardiovascular-related disability and death is also clear. About 22,700 to 69,600 premature deaths from heart and blood vessel disease are caused by other people’s smoke each year.

* Source: “Cigarette Smoking and Cardiovascular Diseases,” American Heart Association.

Cancer Survivor Shares Story

21 Wednesday Nov 2007

Posted by in Press, Videos

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Written by Meagan Farley

“It was really gross and the pictures were just really gross,” said Hayden High School Junior Lauren Frost. She sat among her classmates Monday as Don Young shared his story.

“I didn’t have that type of education in school. They need to be told the effects of what tobacco does and that not everyone is going to get cancer but some people will,” said Young, who started smoking at fourteen years old.

Tobacco has taken its toll. Doctors removed his cancer riddled voice box, leaving him speechless. Then he underwent a 19 hour surgery to remove part of his neck and entire esophagus.

“When my throat blew out they said they lost me on the table so I’ve been given a second chance.”

Young used that second chance Monday to educate Hayden High School students.

The American Cancer Society estimates nine out of ten current smokers started using tobacco when they were teens.

Currently in Kansas, 21 percent of teens report smoking cigarettes.

“I don’t want to do that now especially seeing all that stuff on the projector,” said Junior Rick Rineburg.

“I think a lot of people are going to be talking about how gross this was when we go back to class,” said Frost.

“I know I’m not going to stop everyone from smoking or drinking or doing any other drugs but I think some of them will take this to heart and not do it because they see me and the reality of it and I believe that or I wouldn’t be doing this,” said Young.

* Copyright 2007 NBC (original content from http://www.ksnt.com/home/ticker/11220901.html)

Man on a Mission

22 Saturday Sep 2007

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Written by Lynn Kalesh and Irma Gibbons

In 1992, Don Young’s voice began to get hoarse and he thought it was just a cold. He was diagnosed with throat cancer and a malignant node was removed. Two months later his larynx (voice box) was also removed and he received six weeks of radiation treatment, but his cancer recurred. At this point, he underwent a total laryngectomy and was given less than a year to live.

During a 19-hour surgery in 1993, the front and right side, along with part of the left side of his neck was removed. A portion of his small intestine was removed and transplanted in his neck to make a new esophagus. His chest was cut in order to use the chest muscle to wrap around the front of his neck and skin was grafted from the top of his leg to cover this. The transplant was rejected.

Don went back to surgery and a tube was placed in his neck so he could swallow saliva. Another tube was inserted in his stomach for eleven months to allow him to receive food and medicine. When he regained his strength, he underwent a procedure whereby his stomach was pulled up and attached to the back of his throat to make a new esophagus. The passage will not stay open by itself, so every morning he has to dilate the opening by inserting a two-foot flexible tube down his throat for five minutes. This enables him to eat and drink all day. Also, he cannot bend or lie flat to sleep, and can no longer talk and now uses an electro-larynx (hand-held electronic voice box). He is not able to breathe through his nose or mouth; he has a tracheostomy – a hole in his throat that opens directly to his lungs. Because of the very real danger of drowning if water gets into the trach, Don cannot go swimming and must take care while showering. In spite of all this, he has made a miraculous recovery and has been cancer free since 1993.

Don Young could have just given up, but he didn’t. He is the perfect example of making up your mind to survive cancer, then doing it. But the story would not end here. When he began to regain his strength, he desperately wanted to stop others from making the same mistake; he knew his throat cancer was caused by 34 years of a two-pack-a-day smoking habit, which he started at the age of fourteen. Becoming a driving force in the American Cancer Society’s Tobacco School Health program, he has committed himself to educating young people about the dangers of tobacco and speaks to the public at schools and churches. He is relentless in his mission and, along with his wife Kay, volunteers his services to numerous cancer-related services throughout Missouri.

Young coached softball and soccer for 28 years and continues to coordinate the St. Charles County church softball leagues. He is also involved in the church youth group. In addition, Don is a Shriner’s clown. For the past two years he has participated in the Illinois and Missouri state Senior Olympics games, winning 28 medals.

Don Young doesn’t consider himself an exceptional person – just one who has come to understand that his life and the lives of others are worth fighting for.

* Reprinted by permission of Coping Magazine.