Living in Bonus Time: A Fuse Survivor's Story

June is National Cancer Survivors Month, a time to celebrate the lives reclaimed, the people behind the diagnosis, and the paths forward that survivorship makes possible. At Fuse, stories of survival aren’t just statistics, they are lived experiences woven into our team. One of those stories belongs to our Vice President of Sales, Ric.

In his mid-twenties, Ric was newly married with a young daughter when he was diagnosed with stage II Hodgkin’s lymphoma. What followed would change everything: his perspective, his purpose, and his career.

A Diagnosis That Changed Everything

At the time, Ric had been married for three years and was raising a daughter who was about to turn two. Life was moving forward, until he noticed a lump in his groin. Thinking it was likely just a hernia, Ric had no urgency to get it checked. He had no family history of cancer, so why would it be that?

“You never think it’s going to happen to you until it does, and though it sounds ridiculous today, my biggest concern then was the inconvenience of having to take time away from the gym,” Ric said.

Luckily, a nurse in his family urged him to see a doctor. Shortly after a referral, Ric was encouraged by a surgeon and medical oncologist to have the node removed and biopsied. He was then diagnosed with stage II Hodgkin’s lymphoma. His first thoughts weren’t about how his illness and treatment would affect him; they were about his wife and daughter. All he cared about was knowing his family would be okay if this diagnosis and subsequent treatments went south.

“The small stuff in life all of a sudden didn’t matter anymore,” he said. “Like getting cut off in traffic. I didn’t care about that. My whole perspective changed.”

Treatment and Unexpected Crisis

At the time of Ric’s diagnosis, the standard treatment protocol was a month of high-dose radiation. Had he been diagnosed just months later, he would have received chemotherapy followed by radiation; one of the many ways the field has evolved.

He received his treatments at what was then called the Bruno Ferrari Cancer Center, now the Arnold Palmer Pavilion. Ironically, at the same time as Ric, the seven-time major-winning golfer was also receiving treatment. As Palmer would exit his treatments and Ric went into his, they would joke and exchange pleasantries.

Ric’s treatment had seemed successful, but the day after his final session, something changed. While attending a family festival, Ric developed a persistent fever that climbed to 104ºF by the time he got home, and reached 106ºF when he got to the nearby hospital. He stayed there for five days as doctors from various departments: radiation oncology, infectious disease, and even pathology, searched for answers. None came, and anxiety and frustration set in.

During his hospital stay and two days shy of his daughter’s second birthday, Ric got out of bed to use the restroom. So weak from fever and illness, a single cough knocked him to the ground. Lying on the cold hospital floor, looking up at the pull cord for help, Ric recalls feeling truly defeated for the first time in his cancer journey.

“I felt totally helpless,” he said. “I thought the worst. No medical answers, no improvement in the fever breaks… I had always been a fighter, but this was rock bottom for me. So, I closed my eyes, I cried and I prayed, and I told God that if He helped me through this, I would do my best to serve Him and do something meaningful with my life.”

Two days later, the fever broke, and the following day, Ric was able to attend his daughter’s birthday party.

Redefining Purpose: Back to the Cancer Center

Soon after becoming cancer-free, because Ric hardly missed work despite his treatment, he was promoted at his telecommunications job where he managed 45 employees. He was weighing an even bigger opportunity at that job when something shifted.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being called to do something more. So, despite his success in telecom, Ric left the field and began his career in oncology.

Today, as Fuse’s VP of Sales, Ric works closely with cancer centers like the one that treated him.

“Every time I walk into a cancer center, I feel so much empathy,” he said. “I’ve been the patient. That perspective is important to me.”

At Fuse, Ric is proud to represent solutions that make a difference, clinically and operationally. One of the things he values most about working at Fuse is the number of people across the company who have also experienced cancer, either as patients themselves or as support for loved ones. It reinforces what he believes is at the heart of oncology: the patient.

Reflecting on Survival

When Ric thinks about survivorship now, he describes it as “living in bonus time.”

He feels lucky to have had his daughter before the long-term effects of radiation made him unable to have more children. But he now has three grandchildren, which he considers a blessing.

His advice to his younger self? Get educated, and never assume it won’t happen to you.

Ric remembers sitting in the doctor’s office on the day of his diagnosis, completely blindsided by the news. When the doctor asked what he knew about Hodgkin’s, Ric, an avid Pittsburgh Penguins hockey fan, replied, “I know Mario Lemieux beat it.”

The doctor smiled and said, “Well, that’s all you need to know.”

Now, two decades later, Ric lives each day intending to honor the promise he made when he felt ready to give up on that hospital floor. What was once the terrifying unknown of a cancer diagnosis in his twenties has become a driving force, shaping his purpose, guiding his career, and grounding his belief in the work he does today.