Terry Tucker

In many ways, I believe I am just like any of the billions of people existing on this planet. I have reinvented myself frequently over my professional career. After I graduated from The Citadel, I was employed in the Marketing Department at the corporate headquarters of Wendy’s International, in Dublin, Ohio. From there I switched to hospital administration for Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. After getting married, I became the Customer Service Manager for an academic publishing company in Santa Barbara, California. Subsequently, I was a police officer in Cincinnati, Ohio. Following a family move to Texas, I started my own consulting business and coached high school basketball in Houston. Each time I took on a new position, I had to develop new skills and faced different challenges. There was always a significant learning curve with each new job. But my greatest challenge began in early 2012 when I was diagnosed with a rare form of melanoma that presented on the bottom of my foot. By the time the cancer was detected, it had metastasized to a lymph node in my groin. I was treated at the world-renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center. I had two surgeries to remove the cancer, and after I healed, I was put on a weekly injection of Interferon to help keep the disease from returning. The Interferon gave me severe flu-like symptoms for two - three days every week after each injection. I lost fifty pounds during my therapy, was constantly nauseous, fatigued and chilled, my ability to taste food significantly diminished, and my body continually ached. This misery went on for over 1,660 days! One thing I learned during all my pain and suffering is that you have two choices. You can either succumb to the debilitating discomfort and misery, or you can learn to embrace it and use it to make you a stronger and better human being. I chose the latter.