On Monday, Feb. 6, 27-year-old oral cancer survivor Gruen Von Behrens stood in front of an audience at the Nelson’s Performing Arts Auditorium to encourage people of all ages to stop using tobacco.
“If someone would’ve came up to me looking like this, and told me it was from tobacco use, I would’ve taken a different path,” said Behrens.
He started his story by describing the kinds of things on his mind at 13, which happened to be “baseball, food and women, in that order.”
The last thing he was worried about was the consequences of tobacco use. So, one night, while camping with his friends, he took his first dip of chew.
By the time he was 16, Behrens was a regular smokeless tobacco user. It was about this time that he discovered a white sore spot on the side of his tongue. “I didn’t think anything of it. If you’ve ever chewed, you get those spots sometimes, but, after nine months, this one didn’t go away.”
Behrens said he knew what it was, but didn’t tell anyone he was sick because he was a great baseball player, and he didn’t want to disappoint his mother.
“I was so addicted to that stuff, that my tongue was being split in half by cancer, and I was still dipping every day.”
Behrens’ mother started to notice his slurred words and drooling. He blamed it on his wisdom teeth, which worked until his mom got him an appointment to get them removed. Behrens said he was moments away from being put to sleep when he told his dentist that he had cancer.
Hours later, he was diagnosed with squamous cell carinoma and scheduled for a grueling 13-hour surgery, the first of 33. “I had no idea the battle I was about to undergo to get rid of this disease,” he said.
Behrens went on to describe the pain of radiation treatment, and the loss of his teeth because of it. “I was 19 years old, a sophomore in college, these were supposed to be the best years of my life. Well, I was 19, a sophomore in college and I had dentures.” He illustrated several painful and disfiguring surgeries he had to undergo to get to where he is today.
Along with a lesson in tobacco use, Behrens also explained other valuable life lessons he has learned, including not to judge a book by its cover. “I used to be the one that everyone looked up to, now I’m just the one that everyone looks at.”
In addition, he talked about peer pressure and the influence it has on people, especially teenagers. “My point here is be your own person. You don’t have anyone else to impress but the person sitting in your seat,” he said.