When I first got diagnosed I began searching around on the web and originally found SPHONIC and contacted their local guy. After a few emails I realized that we knew each other. I am a criminal defense lawyer and Bill used to be a Spanish/English interpreter at the U.S. Court House. Over the years he assisted me many times in court or in the holdover cell where I needed to consult with a client and my Spanish was just too limited. He was always kind and considerate, not only to the lawyers, but also to the unfortunate souls who were in chains. I don't know how many of you have ever spent time around the criminal justice system, but many people who work in it are not pleasant to the defendants.
Bill always wore an eye patch and had obviously had some kind of facial surgery but I never knew what from. I thought perhaps he was shot in Viet Nam or something. Well it turns out that he was diagnosed with oral cancer and had surgery back in the early 80's, perhaps as long as 20 years ago. He has had a recurrence and has recently retired, and gone throuh a couple of serious surgeries, including the type where a leg bone is used to make a new mandible. Bill conducts the local SPHONIC support group. For all that he has been through his attitude is absolutely wonderful. He just returned from one of his annual trips to Central America where they take doctors down there to care for the medically needy.
The good news is that I have bugged Bill to join OCF and he informed me that he signed up last week. Now I will attempt to get him to write his survivor story here. The guy is pretty amazing..throughout all this stuff he still goes out and runs long distances.
I hope that you will hear from him soon.

Danny G.