Cancer survivor fired up for Race for Hope

SIOUX CITY | Last year, George Glass was enjoying his job and his family. This year, he’s a thyroid cancer survivor.

Glass, 34, will serve as this year’s race ambassador for the June E. Nylen Race for Hope, along with Reed Eckert, 13, who is the race’s youth ambassador.

In 2011, Glass while he was shaving discovered a swelling on his neck. When it didn’t going away in the next two days, Glass went to see his primary care physician.

“I had a CT scan and they found this goiter on the right side of my thyroid,” he said.

Dr. Sarah Powell, the ear, nose and throat specialist Glass had consulted, was specific in her diagnosis after Glass had surgery to remove the goiter.

“She just said, ‘You have cancer,’” he recalled.

Glass explained how the physician arrived at that definitive conclusion.

“You think of older people, in their 50s, 60s and 70s with this,” he said. “Sometimes this condition is cancerous and sometimes it’s not. But with somebody as young as me, Dr. Powell said it’s almost always cancer.”

What happened next was what Glass referred to as an emotional roller coaster.

“I have a great career, a great wife, a great daughter, a great life,” he said. “How could this possibly be happening?”

Glass had a biopsy on the goiter and it showed no cancer cells.

“I went from very, very scared to breathing a sigh of relief,” he said. “However Dr. Powell was betting her paycheck there was cancer there.”

After the biopsy, the goiter swelled back up because blood was bleeding into it and Glass went back in for more surgery.

“In fact, I ran last year’s race and went in days later to have the goiter, some lymph nodes and the right side of my thyroid removed,” he said. “I felt good.”

Except cancer was found in Glass’ thyroid.

“I was probably lucky with that goiter,” he said. “If it hadn’t resurfaced, the cancer might have been missed.”

The second surgery removed the rest of the thyroid. Glass, a Sioux City firefighter, was off work for a month.

“We have such a brotherhood at the fire department,” he said. “My captain emailed everyone about my situation and by the end of the day, he had volunteers for all of my shifts. I can’t even say how grateful I was.”

An endocrinologist prescribed an iodine radiation pill for Glass to kill any cancer cells missed by the surgery.

“After finishing the pills, I had another CT scan and was told I was cancer-free as of June 13,” he said. “Now, I take hormones to offset the loss of the thyroid.”

The race is set for Sept. 15 and helps fund activities, new equipment and support programs for the cancer center. In 2011, more than $44,000 was raised as more than 700 runners, walkers and cancer survivors took part in the event.

Glass, a competitive runner for years, said he ran the annual Race for Hope just to support the cancer center. But this year’s event has a whole new meaning.

“Being chosen as this year’s race ambassador is a very humbling experience,” he said. “I didn’t feel my cancer experience was special, so I said no when first asked. I knew there were so many other people more worthy.”

Glass confided, “I wasn’t going to say yes initially, but then they said the magic words, ‘free lunch’!”

CORECTION: An earlier version of this story had the wrong name for the race. It has been corrected in this version.

He shrugged his shoulders with a grin and added, “I was in.”