Bobby Hamilton Sr Cancer Story in His Own Words
Lori Shuler, BHR

"It's amazing how much one word can change your life. When you hear it, feel
it, bear it, and breathe it that one word changes your entire view on the way
you see every single aspect of your life. I will never be the same person I
was before I found out I had cancer. I am now a better person for what I have
endured just as all the millions of people in our country who feel the same
way after battling cancer.

It has literally changed my life. I was this guy who was a rough neck, red
neck person that raised myself in the most unbelievable conditions and at
times thought of myself as indestructible to getting my legs knocked out from
under me in the blink of an eye and having it done time and time again
battling this terrible disease. My whole life has been a bit of turmoil. I've
been pretty proud to do what I've done because I'm a survivor. I was out on
the street at 13-14 years old.

Ended up doing what I did and got a chance to race with the best race car
drivers in the best racing in the world. Now I'm an owner and employ right
around 60 people. It's like Garth Brooks' song "The Dance:"
"I could have
missed the pain, but I would have missed the dance. I just thought that part
was hard -- until I was faced with cancer. Ask anyone who's been there.

It all started for me last year when I had a wisdom tooth on the right side
lower part of my jaw that abscessed. Since the area they needed to operate on
was so close to my nerves in my cheek, they decided to wait until the end of
racing season to pull the tooth. Right after Thanksgiving I had the tooth
pulled. Everything was much better in my mouth after that but my neck was
swollen. I went to another doctor who told me that it was an infected lymph
node and it should go down. Well it didn't. So I went back after a couple of
weeks and told him that we needed to leave for Daytona in one week and I
needed the lymph node removed now.

The very next morning Dr. Warren at UMC Medical Center worked me in for
surgery. He slit my throat open to remove what we all thought was a lymph
node only to find tumors there. Basically he removed the large tumor and a
couple of little ones that had spread around in my neck. He sewed me back up
and waited to break the news. When I woke up he walked into the room and
looked down at that floor. Right then I knew something was up. He waited
until Lori came in the room before he explained what he had found. Right then
my mind went to how to be strong for Bobby Jr., Lori and the guys at the
shop. How was everyone going to handle this and what was the game plan? We
had a lot to mull over.

First things first, we called my son and his wife. They came straight to the
hospital for us to explain what we had just been told. I had cancer. No one
believed what they heard at this point and all of us were completely caught
off guard. What's next -- testing, testing and more testing. In the meantime
I had the season opener and one of the biggest races of the season to prepare
for.

My neck healed in a few days and I left for Daytona and never said a word. We
agreed amongst us four that it was not time to say anything until we had all
our ducks in a row. So off to Daytona we went with our mind on the game.
Immediately after that race it was one test after another. My kidneys were
clean; my lungs were washed for testing and came up clean. Then I had a
biopsy done on my tonsils, tongue and random parts of my throat and mouth.
And the next day I left for race number two.J Now I had a couple of weeks to
figure out the plan. We did some research and found out that Dr. Murphy at
Vanderbilt Medical Center was highly recommended in this type of cancer. So
we made that appointment on March 6th to meet her. Instantly I knew she was
the right doctor for me. Her calm disposition helped me with what I was
facing and encouraged me.

We made my next appointment with her on March 20th for the first round of
chemotherapy. I needed one more race and to get my message across about
cancer, my new battle in life. I spoke with Dodge and they were still with
me. Then I spoke with Fastenal and they were very open to letting Bobby Jr.
be their new driver. Everything was in place, now I just needed the guts to
say what I had to say.

It came to me, I don't know how but it was there. I blew the entire industry
away; no one expected what I said. In NASCAR we pride ourselves on our close
knit family and how we all stick together. But if we told one person before
that time, it would have been a mood point. So I pulled my team together 5
minutes before the press conference and told them as a whole. They handled it
pretty well, but at this time none of us knew what to expect. Then I did the
walk into the media center.

I sat down in front of everyone and looked them straight in the face with
what I had to say. I told them of the driver change, this is my last race and
that I would be back. I had made a decision to fight this battle and get on
with it. It was my only choice. At that moment I vowed for no one to write my
name as a cancer victim, that I was not one. I applauded the media for all
their help over the years and asked for their kindness in this manner. I care
about my racing career more than most things in this world and I will be back
to start a truck again. It's what I do, if it don't have headers, a
four-speed and slicks, I don't do good with it.

That night I started that starter and got emotional at what my future would
hold. Who wouldn't? Every cancer patient and their family members are faced
with mortality. You can't ever describe that feeling until you live it. But
once that race began I knew nothing except the speed. My mind was focused and
for that two hours cancer didn't faze me.

We got an unbelievable amount of e-mails and cards that week. Race fans,
non-racing fans, cancer patients, family members of patients, church members,
and all different kinds took time to send us notes. Some were saying good
luck, some were saying do this or don't do that and some were emotional while
others were pumping me up. We even had some people from race teams who took
time to talk with me and explain what they had gone through in their personal
or their family's battle with cancer. It was overwhelming the amount of
support we got and are still getting from people out there.

Then on Monday morning March 20th cancer fazed me. What do you expect, what
happens each week, where do we go, how am I going to feel, so many questions
ran through my mind in flashes. You see everything at that center from young
to old, weak to strong, women to men and every race is there. Some people
knew me, and others didn't. Some were scared and some were just getting
through it. I was just there.

My doctor didn't know who I was and frankly I liked it that way. I love the
fact that she treats me as she would any patient that walks into her door.
She is there to try to save all our lives and she does a fine job at that. I
met with her and then off to chemo. As I sat on the table getting that first
needle put into my hand my emotions ran wild. Am I really going through this?
Cancer, me? Yes I was.

We left that first day and went straight to the race shop. I was fine; cancer
hadn't got me down yet. Yet that is. I went for the second, third, fourth and
fifth chemo treatments only to realize on that fifth time that my body was
not responding as we hoped to the treatments. One more time I was blown away.
So quickly Dr. Murphy changed my regimen. I needed the stronger treatment;
why didn't that surprise me? I would also start radiation on Monday the 24th
of April, a month earlier than planned.

Radiation is intimidating. I am very claustrophobic. The thought of putting a
fitted mask on my face and locking it down on the table made me sick. I
didn't know how I would get through this part, but was kind of glad to be
getting it over with. I had 33 treatments to go, everyday Monday through
Friday and the countdown began.

That weekend we attended the race in St. Louis. I had five radiation
treatments behind me and six chemo treatments down. I didn't feel taken aback
at the time by any of my treatments so I still tried to do as I wanted to. My
mouth and throat were getting sore from the radiation and my white blood
count was down from the chemo treatments. I shook hands with fans, signed
autographs and sat on the pit box for the race in the cold weather. That was
the wrong move.
>>> Continued to next message
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