A positive outlook

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Jim LaRue enjoys the outdoor air just outside his office at Rusk State Hospital. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1994. Progress photo by Nathan Straus

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March 12, 2010

Jim LaRue survives two battles with cancer

Nathan Straus CNHI The Jacksonville Daily Progress Fri Mar 12, 2010, 09:31 AM CST

JACKSONVILLE — Jim LaRue thought himself nearly invincible until the day he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. It’s been almost 12 years since the final blow of the cancer left him unable to have another child, but his coworkers say his positive attitude is contagious.

Rusk State Hospital Administrative Assistant Felice O’Neal said LaRue, the hospital’s director of social work, is simply a wonderful person to work with.

“His positive attitude is contagious; an excellent quality in the workplace,” O’Neal said. “He’s open and encouraging about his situation.”

A Mount Pleasant native who currently lives in Flint, LaRue was diagnosed with cancer in 1994.

“Originally I was in strong denial,” LaRue said. “I was healthy, I had just become engaged to the woman I was going to marry. Finding out I had cancer turned my world upside down.”

At the time he had no health insurance, LaRue said. There was a great deal of both financial and emotional stress at the time.

He said the situation in which he found his cancer was the equivalent of “every guy’s nightmare”. It started when he noticed a painful throbbing, akin to a deep aching, and the pain would come and go over several weeks.

“I got an appointment and they did an ultrasound,” LaRue said. “Later, it was surgically removed.”

At that point LaRue said he had to return for regular testing over the next four years. The doctors had offered him a choice: either go through a long series of follow-up tests or he could have his lymph nodes removed, eliminating the possibility of having children.

By this time LaRue had married the love of his life, Donna, and the thought of not being able to grow their family was not appealing, he said.

He chose the long path of testing.

“We moved to Tyler and continued the tests,” LaRue said. “The doctor felt confident if it was going to reoccur it would have already happened, so testing was reduced.”

This was in early 1998. By July of the same year he began feeling a familiar throbbing sensation once more.

“All the emotions and fears returned,” he said. “Thankfully, I found it early.”

His doctor in Tyler was surprised; the odds of a particular recurrence this way, a way which would remove the possibility of him having a child, were practically nonexistent. LaRue said a case conference was called with a group of doctors before it was decided in order to save LaRue’s life he would need to have any possibility of having children removed.

Before the surgery in 1999, however, he and his wife used In Vitro Fertilization to conceive a boy, whom they named Walker. Walker is now 10 years old.

“The odds are lower with every year,” LaRue said of his chances of a third outbreak. “I feel completely normal now.”

He added the biggest factor for him through his ordeal was to be aware of his body and how he felt.

“If I had chosen not to get myself checked out I could’ve had to have received more extensive treatment,” he said “I have a lot of men come to me and ask what I think they should do; I tell them to let the doctors do what they’re good at doing.”

O’Neal said through the surgeries and recovery treatments LaRue has shown he is strong in his faith.

“He’s the type of person to learn from any experience,” O’Neal said.

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A positive outlook

Jim LaRue survives two battles with cancer

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