Like most of us, Chuck Deckert had never heard of Burkitt’s Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma until last February, when he was diagnosed with the often fatal illness. It was hard to believe since I knew Deckert, a graduate of Amador Valley High School in 1979 who had just turned 44, as a trim athletic district sales manager for Corporate Express. In the 21 years he had worked for the Colorado-based corporate services and office supply company, he had taken only two days of sick leave. At the time, he was doing weekly bike rides of 60-70 miles, was running 6-7 miles several days each week and was in the best shape ever. As a new member of the board of the Museum On Main, he was having lunch about this time last year with the board’s president Jim Allen and Museum director Terry Berry when he suddenly had acute stomach pains, and had to leave.
The pains continued off and on followed by a bloating that, when his mother Rosemary saw him a few weeks later, made him look as if he was five months pregnant. She felt a small lump about the size of a tangerine in his lower abdomen and urged her son to call a doctor, a first for most trim and fit 44 year olds. A biopsy indicated it was Burkitt’s, which Deckert found in his quick research through library books is one of the rarest of cancers and afflicts fewer than 300 Americans year. Few doctors and medical hospitals know how to treat it, but fortunately for Deckert, the UC San Francisco medical center is considered one of the best. By the time treatment started, the growth was the size of a watermelon, but quickly began to shrink as he withstood 98 days and nights at UCSF undergoing very aggressive chemotherapy, which he could handle because of his good physical condition.
Now he’s back on his feet, back to work and, finally has a full head of hair again. He’s also back to work on the museum board, which he joined after two terms as a member of the Pleasanton Human Relations Commission. He’s also active again as a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, as a board member of the Kottinger Gardens senior housing project and as a new board member of the Senior Support Center. Faced with statistics that show that there’s a 40 percent chance of recurrence among Burkitt’s patients, Deckert faithfully checks in at UCSF for extensive testing every three months. Doctors there are optimistic that he has beaten the disease because of his good physical shape and ability to undergo aggressive treatments.
Now it’s payback time for all the good wishes from friends and family around the country, not to mention the $1.5-million in bills his Corporate Express health provider has paid. His sisters Julie Fontana of Pleasanton and Karen Barasanti of Brentwood posted news of their brother while he was undergoing treatment on the Internet site carepages.com, and he spent much of his time reading through and answering hundreds of e-mails, including those from more than 300 of his friends in Pleasanton. Besides thanking everyone for their support, he has also joined with 80 others in a team training program to prepare for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s “Hike for Discovery” fundraiser in May. Hardly for beginners, this hike challenges teams from throughout the U.S. to compete in grueling hikes into the Grand Canyon and to places where the park’s 5-million annual visitors rarely see. The event is designed to highlight the ongoing funding needs of the 712,000 Americans who today are battling the blood cancers of leukemia, myeloma, Burkitt’s and other forms of lymphoma. Theirs is a struggle for life. Deckert and his fellow hikers hope cancer patients can be successfully treated through the research funding and care the Society provides. Those wanting to join in the effort can log on to Deckert’s Hike for Discovery Web page at www.active.com/donate/hfdsf/hfdCDeckert. Even simpler: send Deckert an e-mail at chuckdeckert@comcast.net and he’ll send you a postage-paid envelope for your donation.
