By Debra Minor Wilson
FAIRMONT — (Editor’s note: The annual Celebration of Life ceremony will take place beginning at 12:30 p.m. today at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Mary Lou Retton Drive. Cancer Survivors of the Year Charlie Carter and Reggie Straight will be the speakers and share their stories there.)
Charlie Carter will tell you, from the moment he was born, he’s been a survivor.
He was left as an infant at the steps of a Charleston child shelter. Adopted by two “wonderful, wonderful parents,” he survived years of abuse by a jealous older sibling. He’s been working since he was 13, after the death of his adoptive father, and earned scholarships and grants to attend college.
Seventeen years ago, the now-former teacher and medical technologist fought and survived stomach cancer.
Now he’s fighting — and surviving — liver cancer.
So it’s no surprise that he’s one of two Cancer Survivors of the Year for Marion County.
He said he diagnosed his stomach cancer.
It was 17 years ago and he was traveling throughout Europe teaching laboratory science at various hospitals. He was losing weight and decided to check his blood.
Alarmed at finding some abnormal cells, he checked his bloodwork at each hospital he visited, he said.
Soon he was “at the point of die or fight.” When he returned from his trip, before he could get medical care, he collapsed at work. He was in surgery by late that night, he said.
“The doctor said I was on the 50-50 road. I said, ‘No. I’m on the 90-10 and the 90-10 is in my favor.’”
“That’s what we’ve got to have: a fighter,” the doctor replied. Carter fought back, did what the doctors told him to do ... and survived.
Then, five years ago, he found out he had liver cancer. He was immediately placed on the transplant list. He made it to the top twice, but both opportunities fell through.
When he turned 65 in March, he became too old for a transplant, he said he was told.
He went on an experimental chemotherapy program through the University of Pittsburgh. He’d been giving himself low-dose chemo injections, but stopped five months ago.
“I figured due to the expense of chemo (up to $1,300 a month) and with no likelihood of a transplant ever, it was useless.
“Now I’m surviving on my own,” he said. He does take medication for other problems.
Even if he could have gotten a transplant, the expense would have been dear.
“I would have to mortgage my home or sign it over,” he said. “And I was not willing to do that.
“The survival rate at age 65 years is like 10 percent. That’s bad odds. And there’s no guarantee the transplant will work. You might need a second one.
“When you lay everything out and look at it, is life really worth that? No. If I were 50, I’d reconsider. But at 65? No.”
He’s got some problems, but he has checkups every three months and takes his medication. So he’s OK, he said.
“And I go on with life,” he said.
He works part time at a local real estate office. He likes to travel. He’s active in church and with the Knights of Columbus. And he likes to “putzy around” in his garden.
“I’m not going to let anything stop me from doing what I want to do.
“I have good days and bad days,” he said. “Some days, I think I am so stupid for getting up and going to work. But once I’m up, I think that there are so many people less fortunate than I am, that I’m crazy to even think that. That encourages me to keep going.
“There’s always someone out there worse, absolutely.”
He used to think that 65 was old. Not anymore.
“I have to get old again. I haven’t decided what ‘old’ is again. I’m still deciding on that. Again, I have to survive cancer.
“And I’m going to do both ... get old and survive.”
Having the right attitude “is the control of everything,” he said.
“If you’ve got a bad attitude, nothing goes right for you. If you have a good attitude, things may not always go right, but you’ve got better odds.
“I’ve got a survivor’s attitude. That’s what everybody tells me.”
Liver cancer almost made him give up, he admitted.
“I knew I was facing a problem with the stomach cancer. But when I got liver cancer, I admit I was bitter for a few days. Then I decided, how many people have liver cancer and are living a normal life? There’s no reason why I can’t.
“I’m fighting it. I’m going to be a survivor. The bug called cancer is not going to get this boy. I can tell you that. This boy will get the bug. And we’ll go down together.”
If he’s bitter about anything, it’s about the expense of fighting cancer.
“It’s not only me. It’s anybody.”
His monthly medical expenses of $2,300 dropped to about $1,000 once he stopped taking chemo.
“Medicare Part D is paying 60 percent or something like that. That’s not good, but it’s better than I had before. I’m thankful for that.”
He said he has mixed feelings about being one of Marion’s two Cancer Survivors of the Year.
“Until last year, I never really told my story. Even my closest friends didn’t know. I’m not a person to gloat about anything or to give out personal life. That’s just not really my thing.”
Someone told him, “Now, that’s what a survivor is.”
“I said this was just part of my life. I guess I am a survivor, but I never realized it. I’ve weathered through several things, but that’s just what you did to grow up.”
Although he’s a little anxious about speaking at the celebration, he can’t wait for the actual event and for the Relay for Life on Friday.
“The Celebration of Life is me. I want to celebrate what has happened to me up to this point.
“I want to move on until I get old. And if it takes a Relay for Life to help encourage me to become old, then I’ll be on the front line.”
E-mail Debra Minor Wilson at dwilson@timeswv.com.
