Beating Cancer to GSD
A Greyshirt reflects on his first operation, and fulfilling the vow he made to himself during chemo.
I just completed my first op with Team Rubicon. It meant so much to me because I was able to realize my goal of giving back to the community.
In 2019, I was diagnosed with stage 4, large B cell, double-hit lymphoma. I had lesions on my skull, my spine, and my hips. The lesions on my skull were pressing on my brain causing double vision, and the pain in my hips was so bad I couldn’t stand. The scans showed that pretty much most of my body had cancer. I went through some of the most aggressive chemo there is, spending more than 50 days in the hospital and doubling up the chemo for 10 rounds in three months. But, I beat it and I have been in remission now for three years.
During those long days in the hospital, I discovered Team Rubicon and decided when I beat cancer this was going to be the way I would give back to the world to refill my Karma buckets. I started working on the courses when I was recovering from chemo and worked hard to get myself ready.
That day came in early July when I deployed on Operation Swamp Fox, in Marion County, TX, Team Rubicon’s response to colliding fronts in March that produced a line of severe storms and tornadoes.
I cannot describe the incredible feeling of completing this first op alongside some amazing other veterans to help some Texas residents who desperately needed our assistance. We worked incredibly hard in 104 degree heat and we got it done. It was so well organized and the team worked so well together that I definitely want to deploy again. We get a lot of disasters here on the Texas Gulf Coast and I am glad that I can now give back to my community to those that need our help the most.
Surviving cancer was an incredibly rough journey and it means so much to be able now to make my life a little more meaningful by serving others.
Dave Saba is a Navy veteran who chronicled his story of discovering and then beating cancer at Saba Beats Cancer.