Chip Howard:BTHO Cancer

Chip Howard is one of the Brazos Valley’s most well-known personalities. Since 1978, Chip has been heard on the radio talking about sports to his many listeners. Chip has won every major sports reporting award you can win in Texas, and outside of the studio, he keeps busy with his faith, family, and fishing.

After a physical, where Chip’s doctor was uneasy about what he saw, Chip was ordered to have a colonoscopy. Then on June 27, 2006, Chip was diagnosed with colon cancer and quickly had surgery less than two months later. “God was really gracious, because they caught it so early. Mine was in the really, really early stages,” Chip said. “I was very blessed we caught it as early as we did.”

Then, Chip started a 28-day chemo and radiation treatment over six weeks. “I had people drive me down every week day to get radiation treatment,” Chip said. “All the while, I was taking an oral chemo with that. After all of that, I had a month to take a break before chemotherapy.”

After resting, Chip started chemotherapy at St. Joseph’s Cancer Center — an instrumental part of the cancer treatment. Chip said that he didn’t make it through the chemo treatments, because the radiation had caused some internal bleeding and caused him to go to the emergency room in February of 2007. He had lost over four units of blood and that was the end of his chemotherapy treatments. After recuperating from the blood transfusion, Chip started to feel better.

While recovering, a blockage was found, because the radiation had messed up his intestines. Chip had to go back into the hospital for more surgery. But after that surgery in late June/early July of 2007, he started to heal. “It took about six to eight months to get back to semi-normal health. It was a very long process,” Chip said.

During everything, Chip never let his listeners down and worked almost every day. “I was very lucky to have a job that I could take equipment home and lay in bed, while doing the show. Working was really important; it gave me something to keep my mind focused on instead of how miserable I felt,” Chip said.

“I learned a lot about my faith and about the Lord during that time. I’m convinced that the reason I’m still here is the fact that I had so many people praying for me. God answered prayers,” Chip said. “The Lord left me here, because He isn’t finished with me. I am so fortunate to have so many people praying for me. I learned that God is good every day, I knew that before, but sometimes we have to be reminded, and God did remind me that He is good and faithful every day despite all that was going on. There were certainly days I was ready to go see Him; I was definitely ready many times, but God wasn’t quite through with me yet.”

It was a long two years, but Chip prevailed through it all. Chip explains that he is blessed to be cancer free for seven years. He knows it could return, but is glad to still be here today. He urges anyone over the age of 50 to speak with your doctor and schedule a colonoscopy. Colon cancer is called the silent killer, because generally by the time you realize something is wrong, it is too late. The key to beating colon cancer is early detection.

Tune into Chip Howard’s Sports Talk weekday afternoons from 4 to 6 p.m. on 1150 The Zone.

article by Ariel Rosentswieg