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"Spit tobacco has ruined my life,"
said Gruen Von Behrens. "Every time I turn around they are putting me in
the hospital either to have surgery or some kind of treatment. If I had known
then what I know now, I never would have put a dip in my mouth. Spit tobacco
seemed harmless, but in reality it was more than I could handle." Von
Behrens is a 26-year-old cancer survivor who has had almost 30 disfiguring
surgeries to save his life, including one radical surgery that removed half his
neck muscles and lymph nodes, and half of his tongue. Like too many teenagers,
Von Behrens first tried spit tobacco at age 13 to "fit in".
The aspiring ball player was
17 when he was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. The Stewardson, Illinois,
native now travels and shares the real life consequences of his own spit tobacco
use with the public on behalf of Oral Health America’s National Spit Tobacco
education Program (NSTEP). Please visit their website to learn more: http://nstep.org. |
