WASHINGTON – It is a race in more ways than one for one of our own at WTOP. And you can help.
Tucker Echols, the Washington Business Journal’s reporter normally heard on WTOP every morning, is battling diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, a type of cancer that was discovered after he found a lump on his neck.
“The very good news here is that it’s very treatable,” says Echols.
“There is a chemotherapy regimen that has worked more than 10 years, almost 15 now, to give lots of folks like me, who catch it early, a good chance of survival.”
When the cancer is caught early, patients have an 80 percent chance of survival.
But Echols, who is 51, has lost his hair to chemotherapy. And he has had a few difficult moments, like telling his two kids, who are 6 and 8.
They asked him if he was going to die.
“I said, ‘No, I’m not going to die. That is the good news here.'”
Now after consulting his oncologist, and despite the side effects that often accompany his treatment, Echols is preparing for the EagleMan Triathlon competition, a 70.3-mile race held in Cambridge, Md., June 9.
“The key with chemotherapy is that you listen to your body and if you think you can do it, go ahead and do it,” Echols says.
Echols will run to raise money for three charities that are trying to cure cancer, and his goal is to raise $30,000.
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