When Richard McCraw was diagnosed with a rare form of stage-4 cancer, he sought out the best doctors he could find and moved halfway across the country for treatment.
Richard McCraw, right, with Mike Cobb of Spartanburg. McCraw, a cancer survivor, volunteers to drive patients to treatment centers.But even the best treatment wasn’t enough to eradicate his cancer, so he was prepared for a 14-hour surgery. The doctors, who weren’t confident they could get all the cancer, were stunned to discover during the surgery that not a trace of the disease could be found.
McCraw didn’t skip a beat when he told the doctors it was the “hand of God” that had healed him.
The 57-year-old Spartanburg resident and member of North Spartanburg First Baptist Church was diagnosed in August 2000 with maxillary sinus cancer, located below his eye. “They wanted to do immediate surgery for me here in Spartanburg,” he said. But McCraw said a friend of his told him about MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, one of the top cancer hospitals in the nation. With such a serious and rare form of cancer, McCraw decided to temporarily move to Houston with his wife to undergo treatment.
He was told by doctors that the tumor was inoperable because it was located on a blood vessel. He also was warned that the radiation treatment could cause blindness because of the cancer’s proximity to his eye. With little choice, however, he opted for radiation and chemotherapy.
“I asked them, ‘Do you think you can save my life?’ They said that would depend on how I responded to the radiation and chemotherapy,” McCraw said.
He spent two months in Houston undergoing the grueling treatment that left him nauseated and with burns in his mouth. Afterward, an MRI revealed minimal change to the tumor.
With his options exhausted, McCraw opted to have the surgery. When he awakened afterward, McCraw said a young doctor told him that they could find no trace of the cancer.
“He was trying to explain to me why there was no cancer there, and he was struggling to come up with an answer,” McCraw said. “The only way that I am here is by [God’s] touch.”
McCraw has been cancer-free for more than 10 years. During that time, he has become a comforting voice and helpful hand to others who suffer from cancer.
“I knew my healing wasn’t just about me. It would be about what God had to say to other people through me,” McCraw said.
Sometimes he will get referrals of patients from MD Anderson or acquaintances locally to talk to people who are undergoing a treatment similar to what he endured. Because of his experience, he is able to answer their questions, provide support and remind them that hope is never lost.
“I had a lot of comfort from my family and my faith. Some people don’t know Christ,” he said. “I help others going through a trial.”
Besides offering words of comfort, McCraw offers cancer patients a ride to treatment through the American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery program. He said the program matches patients in need of a ride with someone who has a vehicle and the time to transport them.
“Right now, in Spartanburg County and other counties, we’re really needing volunteers,” McCraw said.
Lang Hunt, transportation solutions manager for the American Cancer Society in Columbia, said more than 149 patients in South Carolina were assisted through the program last year, but patients sometimes miss treatments because there simply are not enough volunteers.
He said volunteers include retirees, students, cancer survivors or simply people who have the time and resources and want to help. Volunteers can choose days of the week or hours they might be available and are matched with a cancer patient in need of transportation. “Sometimes the patient bonds with the volunteer, and that is a blessing,” he said.
– Editor’s note: For more information about the Road to Recovery program, contact the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345, or Lang Hunt at 803-750-1693.