Head and Neck Cancer
Proton Alumni Spotlight: Drew Rogers
Drew Rogers recently returned from Germany where he coached a world-class team of USA athletes and competed in various distances at the 17th World Dragon Boat Racing Championships. This wasn’t his first time competing on a world stage as a paddler, and he was inspired to return to the world level as a paddle athlete to reach for gold after facing down and defeating throat cancer, a form of head and neck cancer.
Drew is an avid athlete enthused about competition
By happenstance, Drew was introduced to dragon boat racing one morning while taking care of laundry at the marina, where he was living aboard a boat. A woman Dragon Boat paddler asked him to come try paddling the Dragon Boat, and as they say, the rest is history. Drew was hooked from the start. As an avid athlete and former competitive hockey player, Drew found paddling the dragon boat challenging and enjoyed the team sport environment. In 2014, Drew began to travel and compete internationally. In 2017, he was a part of a team that secured a silver and a bronze medal in world competition. For the past four years, he has been a coach for the Jacksonville Dragon Boat Club and was also a time trials coach for the Mammoglams – a group of Jacksonville-based breast cancer survivors who paddle in the Breast Cancer Paddler (BCP) division. This was the first year the BCP was officially entered into the world championship event. You can read more about Pam Reckner’s experience competing in the BCP competition this year at the championship race here. Pam is a breast cancer survivor treated at the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute
Drew faces down a tough opponent – cancer
After initially thinking he had a cold that wouldn’t go away, Drew’s medical team decided to perform a biopsy, and shortly after that, he was referred to UF Health for throat surgery as cancerous cells were found. The tumor board evaluated Drew’s case and ultimately decided he would be better treated with a combination of chemotherapy and proton therapy, a more precise form of radiation. He began proton therapy at the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute in 2023.
Drew looks back fondly on his time being treated with proton therapy at the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute. He says his medical team at the Institute was warm and enthusiastic. He requested mellow yacht rock music while in treatments because it put him at ease and the often-younger members of the medical team were given an education in 70s and 80s bands, he fondly recalls. The team accommodated his schedule as he was working while receiving both proton therapy and chemotherapy. Drew is happy to report he didn’t have any cancer treatment side effects during his cancer treatment for throat cancer.
Going for gold in Germany
Drew was inspired to continue competing in dragon boat races after beating throat cancer. He says he felt more like himself and lost some weight when he was able to return to regular training after cancer. While he was shooting to win gold this time around, he is proud that he and his Team USA Senior Division paddlers returned with two silvers and three bronze medals. “We almost got the gold – we had the chance; just missed it by a tenth of a second,” he reflects. Drew is proud of how close they got and how they gave it everything they had.
Thinking back on his time in Germany, Drew reflects and says that in training you realize how important all the small things are that build your strength and mental fortitude for the big competition. He adds, “You can’t leave anything to chance.”