BATTLE: Poly Spanish teacher David Frymire remembers his battle with prostate cancer.
By Andrea Alvarado, Staff Writer
Enduring and overcoming hardships often results in a new outlook on life. Poly’s own David Frymire learned this when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer on November 16, 2012. Unlike some cancer patients, Frymire did not feel the need to keep his condition a secret. “I didn’t really worry about people knowing,” he said.
Initially, Frymire believed he had stage one prostate cancer, which is the least serious form. However, a later biopsy revealed that the cancer had spread throughout the entire prostate with some cells even extending beyond it. After this discovery, he was required to undergo surgery in order to fully remove the cancerous cells. Fortunately, he did not need chemotherapy and avoided all of its crippling side effects. Frymire took it upon himself to get into great physical shape prior to his surgery; he worked out at the gym every day, maintained a balanced diet and performed the exercises his doctor recommended. “I believed that the better cardiovascular health I was in, the better my recovery would be,” he explained.
On January 29, 2013, Frymire underwent surgery to have his prostate removed. After a quick recovery, he instantly began walking through the hallways of the hospital—he even walked out of the hospital the day he was released. “They asked me if I wanted a wheelchair, but I said ‘No way! I want to hurry and get out of this place.’ My wife said that I was practically running to get out of the hospital,” Frymire said.
Frymire reluctantly took a month and a half leave of absence from his teaching duties at Poly. Although his doctor advised against it, he wished to return to teaching. “He told me that teachers are notorious for doing too much– that they are troublesome patients who don’t listen,” Frymire said.
Upon his return to school, the Poly teacher was welcomed with a gigantic poster that spanned an entire wall of his classroom. “It was special to know that people were glad to see me back and that they thought of me while I was away,” he said. Though Frymire received a joyous homecoming, he found that some of his students had fallen behind during his absence. He quickly resumed teaching to make sure that every single student was properly caught up.
This past summer, Frymire chose to receive radiation as a precaution to make sure that the cancer was fully removed. “They even gave me a certificate when I finished,” he said. Fortunately, Frymire did not have to take another leave of absence during his radiation, which lasted from the beginning of August to the end of September. He attended his radiation appointments after school, noting this period of time as one of the hardest in his battle with cancer. Because the room used for radiation was the same room that conducted chemotherapy, he came across patients with many variations of cancer. He especially remembered seeing a multitude of women fighting breast cancer. “I realized I didn’t have it hard at all compared to them. It was hard to go in there every day and see their faces,” Frymire explained.
Currently, Frymire is in remission. He looks forward to another year of life, prayer and reflection after his episode with the disease. Instead of choosing to see his battle as a hardship, he prefers to have a more positive outlook on the situation and view it as a lesson well learned. “I realized life is short. I had better do as much as I can with the days I have left,” he said.