SACRAMENTO -- At age 22, cancer survivor Travis Paolini has already faced enough adversity to know he is not backing down from life's challenges and opportunities, especially considering his newest challenge: Joining the Army as a health care specialist. While many would hesitate to take the risks associated with joining the military, Paolini said he is not deterred by the fact that the Army could send him to Iraq or Afghanistan, but understands the risks and is ready to face them.
There aren't too many people who have attained Paolini's kind of drive and determination by their early 20s, but when you have already faced and beaten cancer by age 17, some of life's decisions become much clearer.
When Paolini was 16 years old, he discovered a lump in his right underarm. He had no way to know what it was, but immediately knew that something was not right. He told his parents about it and together they decided to have it checked out right away. A doctor proceeded to remove Paolini's entire lymph node, and a biopsy confirmed the diagnosis: Unfortunately, it was cancer; fortunately, it was diagnosed as Hodgkin's lymphoma -- one of the more curable forms of cancer, especially when found in the early stages.
His doctor operated and removed Paolini's lymph node; however, there were still traces of cancer in his underarm area. He then had to undergo chemotherapy for four months and endured all the typical side-effects.
"I lost my hair, got sick and threw up a lot … all that good stuff," he said, a wry smirk on his face.
In the following years, Paolini would continue to return to the doctor for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and CT scans on a quarterly basis. Then, as he continued to remain cancer-free, the screenings became less and less frequent.
In the years following his diagnosis, Paolini graduated from Rancho Cotate High School in Rohnert Park, Calif., in 2007 and began pursuing his goal of becoming a firefighter. He completed Emergency Medical Technician school and then knocked out his Fire Technician Certificate. He even began working as a volunteer firefighter in 2008 and was hired for part-time work in 2009. But there was still something else he had long wanted to pursue: being a Soldier.
"Being a firefighter is one of my career goals, but I have also always wanted to go into the Army, and if I do well, perhaps it can develop into a career as well," Paolini said. "I want the experience of serving my country -- this is something I've always wanted to do."
Getting the green light to enter the Army is not easy, and it is especially tough for someone who has had cancer. But Paolini had remained cancer-free for the required five-year period and was cleared as good-to-go.
"I was right on the five-year mark when I started going to the Napa recruiting office to talk about joining," he said. "And I want to give some 'props' to the Napa Recruiting Station, too. They told me that as long as I did my part and kept working toward joining, they would do their part to get me in -- Sergeants [Albert] Matel and [Andrew] Cottam absolutely kept their word."
Having signed his contract at the Sacramento Military Entrance Processing Station Oct. 4, 2011, Paolini said he is looking forward to getting through the training and starting to work in his field.
What is he not looking forward to?
"Getting yelled at to do push-ups at four in the morning," he said with a grin.
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Note:
Hodgkin's lymphoma, previously known as Hodgkin's disease, is a type of lymphoma, which is a cancer originating from white blood cells called lymphocytes. Hodgkin's lymphoma is characterized by the orderly spread of disease from one lymph node group to another and by the development of systemic symptoms with advanced disease.
Positron Emission Tomography (PET scan) is a nuclear medicine imaging technique that produces a three-dimensional image or picture of functional processes in the body. In modern scanners, three dimensional imaging is often accomplished with the aid of a CT X-ray scan performed on the patient during the same session, in the same machine.
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