Gale Hansen of Valley City shows Wednesday the radiation mask made for him to undergo cancer treatment. (Jean Schlegel/VCTR)

By Jean Schlegel
Valley City Times-Record

In the beginning, the only thing that bothered Gale Hansen was a scratchy throat. It felt like popcorn was stuck by his tonsils.
Then one day when he was brushing his teeth, he noticed one tonsil was larger than another.
Hansen went to Fargo to see a doctor. The tonsil was a good size by then. He had to have a tonsillectomy.
Unlike a tonsillectomy for a child, Hansen said this was “brutal.” He lost some of his ability to taste. He also lost 25 pounds in a two-week period.
On May 1, 2008, Hansen received a pathology report showing he had Stage 2 tonsil carcinoma – a “very rare” form of cancer, doctors told him. Only 2,000 people have it nationwide, and only 5 percent of enlarged tonsils are malignant.
The 52-year-old Valley City man is still not 100 percent recovered, and says he may never be, but he’s much better. He will tell his story June 26 at the sixth annual Barnes County Relay for Life, for which he’s this year’s honorary chairman.
Heredity may have played a part in Hansen’s ordeal. He says he never had trouble with his tonsils his whole life. His father and younger sister died from cancer and his mother is a survivor.
“Cancer can strike anyone,” Hansen says. “You can be wealthy, but that’s nothing if you don’t have your health.”

Tough treatment
Hansen received a full computer body scan. Doctors found only microscopic residual cancer cells, warranting only radiation treatment and no therapy.
But even then treatment was tough. Doctors built him a nylon radiation mask for his head and shoulders.
After his tonsils were removed, Hansen started seven weeks of 34 radiation treatments each weekday, which lasted 20 minutes per day. A linear accelerator using X-rays emitted high-power beams to a concentrated area of cancer cells.

“Radiation destroys good cells, along with the bad, and I became really sick,” he says.
Weeks one and two went without side effects. Hansen, a pilot for the Fargo Jet Center who works in Valley City, was told he could fly and drive during treatments, and at first he drove himself 55 miles east to Fargo each day.
But by week three, Hansen had what felt like 40 canker sores in his mouth and he felt nauseous. His wife of 31 years, Denise, began driving him to appointments, and he “grounded himself” from flying before treatments.
Hansen also began suffering from anxiety. He had to sustain a 2,400-calorie-a-day diet to keep his weight and energy up to avoid having a feeding tube inserted into his stomach. He maintained this calorie intake on a liquid diet – he couldn’t eat solids.
As time wore on, Hansen got sick every day and had heavy, thick saliva. He lost hair on the back of his head and left side of his face and mustache. A large area by his left jaw has not yet re-grown its hair.
While he was getting treatment, Hansen’s boss told him the center would pay his full salary whether he worked or not. A huge relief for Hansen, who was at one point bedridden and couldn’t work at all. He will get a special medical waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration to resume flying.
“I thought just seven weeks and I’d be 100 percent,” he says. “Wrong! Radiation to the head and neck is very brutal, and it affects so many senses.” Hansen had third degree burns to his neck, inside and out.
By the end of his treatment, Hansen could hardly talk, or swallow anything substantial. After radiation, the man who was 232 pounds lost another 46 pounds.
“I lost a total of 71 pounds, and I have now gained from 10 to 15 pounds back,” he said. He weighs 161 now.
He had to go through therapy for swallowing, chewing and speech. He still returns to his doctor for regular checkups. He says he’s regained about 80 to 90 percent of his energy and strength.
He has gone back to work, and mostly works out of a hangar at the Barnes County Municipal Airport.

‘New norm’
Because of his ordeal, Hansen has learned not only about getting through cancer, but also about life.
“You have to have a positive attitude,” he says. “This is a big mental game. Trust your doctors. Educate yourself. Have good support, spiritual or otherwise. Communication is great therapy. ... My blood pressure used to be border high. Now it’s border low.”
He says just talking to people can be therapeutic. “It’s unbelievable the support I got,” he says. “You sure know who your friends are.”
His taste buds aren’t what they used to be, but he’s living with a “new norm.” He has a metal taste in his mouth when he eats. He has dry mouth and chews gum just about all the time to stimulate his saliva glands.
Hansen and his wife, Denise, have three grown children: Jennifer, Corey and Deena.