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A former athlete is using his disfigured face to drive home a message to young people. He's in Utah this week, appearing before thousands of students in high schools throughout the state.
Gruen Von Behrens had everything going for him. In his teenage years he had all the makings of a star baseball player. But something was growing inside his mouth that would change his life forever.
When Von Behrens was 13 years old, dipping smokeless tobacco was the cool thing to do. So, like many baseball athletes then, he started chewing and continued until he was in high school.
Von Behrens dipped and chewed for only four years. At 17, he was diagnosed with oral cancer. The damage was significant. "My cancer had split my tongue in half. OK, my tongue actually split in half around the tumor and then the floor of my mouth. They removed half my tongue during major surgery," he said.
Von Behrens also lost the lower part of his jaw. Surgeons had to pull bone and skin from other parts of the body to fix his face. He had thousands of treatments before the cancer finally disappeared.
"I want people to be able to see me, hear my story, understand what I've been through, and then make your choice on whether you want to use tobacco or not," Von Behrens said.
Oral cancer can strike anybody, but among those who opt to dip, the odds are off the chart. "Every dip of smokeless tobacco that someone puts in their lip, every dip that they put in their lip is the same cancer causing ingredients as three to five cigarettes smoked," he says.
At the Clearfield Job Corps, the words, though difficult to understand at times, rang loud and long. Jonathan Rivera told us, "It makes me think, it really does. Been smoking for 11, 12 years, so it's time to quit, yeah."
Benjamin Smith has dropped both smoking and dipping. "It's scary. I'm scared. I just can't explain what could have happened had I kept on what I was doing, leading down this path to be," he said.
"I've lost my grandmother, and she smoked since her early twenties," Sean Riegel said. He lost his grandfather as well. Von Behrens' words really hit home for him.
While in Utah, Von Behrens is challenging youth to enter Real Noise, an annual contest that invites junior, middle and high school students and their friends to create and conduct an anti-tobacco activity in their communities. Entries are due by November 21. More information is available at www.fighttheugly.com.
Von Behrens will be speaking at the following locations:
Monday, Aug 25
8:10 a.m. - Enterprise High School, 565 S 200 E, Enterprise
1:00 p.m. - Milford and Beaver High Schools, at Beaver High 195 E. Center St., Beaver Tuesday, Aug 26
8:15 a.m. - Clearfield Job Corps, 20 W 1700 S, Clearfield
9:30 a.m. - Clearfield Job Corps, 20 W 1700 S, Clearfield
Wednesday, Aug 27
8:30 a.m. - Carbon High School, 750 E 400 N, Price
10:45 a.m. - Canyon View Jr. High, 550 N 400 W, Huntington
1:00 a.m. - Castledale High School, 55 S Center Street, Castle Dale
Thursday, Aug 28
9:15 a.m. - Horizonte School, 1234 S Main Street, Salt Lake City
1:20 p.m. - Grantsville Junior High School, 318 S Hale, Grantsville
Friday, Aug 29
9:15 - Skyview High School, 520 S 250 E, Smithfield
E-mail: eyeates@ksl.com
