News / Health / Clark County Health

Battle with HPV-positive cancer pushed man to focus on life’s positives

By Wyatt Stayner, Columbian staff writer

Published: February 10, 2019, 3:24pm

3 Photos

Vancouver resident Mike Woodard poses with a radiation mask he used for cancer treatment. Woodard developed a reputation for looking on the bright side during his fight with cancer of the tonsils. (Contributed photo) Photo Gallery

To hear Vancouver resident Mike Woodard tell it, it can sometimes sound like he won the lottery, not like he got cancer.

Woodard, 62, prides himself on his positivity and faith, which he utilized along with family and friends to navigate a battle against cancer of the tonsils. Here are just a couple of the examples where Woodard put a positive spin on his battle with HPV-positive cancer.

Woodard said he’s lost the ability to taste sweets, but that’s OK, because, “I can still taste beer,” Woodard said. “It’s a tough experience, but it could have been so much worse.”

Woodard did radiation five times a week for seven weeks, and chemotherapy every Monday for seven weeks, but as he likes to put it, “My job was just to show up.” He even nicknamed his radiation techs “the burn sisters” because of what radiation did to his body.

Human Papillomavirus Cancers

Dr. Allen Cheng, who specializes in head and neck cancer for Legacy Health, said vaccination is the best preventive measure one can use to protect against HPV-positive cancer.

“The only preventative thing has been to recommend the vaccine,” Cheng said.

HPV, a sexually transmitted disease, can cause genital warts and at least six types of cancer, including almost all cervical cancers and anal cancers as well as cancers in the throat. HPV has hundreds of strains, most of which don’t cause warts or cancer, and most adults will encounter at least one of the more benign strains in their lifetime.

The vaccine, Gardasil 9, protects against nine of the strains most likely to cause cancer. According to statistics provided by Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center spokesperson Kelly Love, there are nearly 40,000 HPV-associated cancers annually in the U.S. About 23,000 cancers are in women and 16,500 are in men.

Clark County has the highest incidence rate in Washington for oropharyngeal cancer — which is cancer in the back of the throat, including the base of tongue and tonsils — in males older than 50, according to stats provided by Legacy. Clark County also has the second-highest death rate for oropharyngeal cancer in Washington.

It’s recommended to administer the vaccine around age 11 before sexual activity starts, but the vaccine can be administered through age 45. The latency period for HPV cancers is prolonged. Someone can contract HPV without noticeable symptoms and not be diagnosed with cancer for a decade or longer, Cheng said. Awareness of the HPV vaccine is rising, but there are still many parents who don’t know about its effectiveness, Cheng said.

Discussing the vaccine with younger children can be tough for parents because it involves talking about sex, but Cheng said these conversations are helpful and important.

“Because this cancer is tied to a sexually transmitted disease, there’s a lot of stigma on both ends, talking about the cancer itself and the prevention methods. So there’s a lot of questions that come out of that that people can very embarrassed or ashamed about,” Cheng said. “Just because you got it doesn’t mean you were especially promiscuous. I would say there’s no evidence to suggest this has anything to do with current behaviors or promiscuity or whatnot.”

— Wyatt Stayner

“I just tried to have fun with it,” Woodard said.

Or how about other upsides that Woodard discovered after his diagnosis? He needed to shed some pounds, he said. With treatment, he did.

“I lost about 50 pounds, but I had weight to lose. So that was good. It was actually a mixed blessing,” he said.

The middle of his neck is so burned from radiation that he doesn’t grow hair in the area anymore.

“I don’t really grow much hair down there now, which is great,” Woodard said. “I shave in about three minutes. It’s not a terrible thing. You got to look at the bright side.”

Woodard did his best to stay positive throughout cancer treatment, but he does admit the experience took its toll in many ways. He says he’s more emotional now and can feel that emotion welling up while talking to his wife Michelle or any of his four kids or three grandkids. Woodard’s mom died last year, so recent times have been trying.

Woodard received his official confirmation of cancer at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. He was diagnosed with cancer in April 2017.

“That was the moment when it really hit me,” Woodard said of the OHSU confirmation. “I went and sat in my car and it was a three-mountain day, where you can see all the mountains. I just sat in the parking lot and cried, and I called my wife, and let her know. It got very real then.”

Woodard had conversations with his wife about finances. He needed to make sure everything was in order if he died.

“When you have to ponder your own mortality in a very serious and real way, it gives you a different perspective,” he said. “This is not a drill.”

Woodard, who works in sales in Portland, came to work one day during treatment feeling like everything was OK.

“I’d go get fried, and then I’d come in the office. I felt pretty good,” Woodard said. “A couple people told me when I fully returned to work, ‘Boy, it was cool that you came in that day, but you looked like hell.’ I thought, ‘Oh, I thought I was doing well.’ ”

Woodard has no evidence of the disease left, and his cancer journey led him to a new calling. He’s volunteering for a Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center patient and family partner council. The council explores ways to improve the patient experience at Legacy.

Woodard, who refers to himself as “a walking medical miracle,” has had nearly a dozen surgeries. He knows his way around a hospital and thinks this volunteer role is truly beneficial, he said. He explained that he knows people overwhelmed by health care, and he wants to change that problem.

“I want to do something with purpose and value,” Woodard said. “Something that helps people.”

Human Papillomavirus Cancers

Related Stories