As we once again return to the “5-Alarm Task Force” podcast vault during our summer hiatus, we turn to another excellent podcast that deals with the exorbitantly high rate of cancer in the fire service.
Firefighters around the world risk their lives almost every day, running in when everyone else is running out. While it is well known that our job is inherently dangerous, over the last 10-12 years, we have learned about a different danger, one that hides as a microscopic "time-bomb," where no one knows, if or when it may go off!
Our guest on this Episode is Keith Tyson, a 34-year veteran of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. Just a few months after retiring 10 years ago, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer and several skin cancers. These diagnoses started Keith on a journey and mission that continues today.
He immediately began looking into the cancer rates of colleagues in his department. Each number, each fact, led to the discovery that his was not a sole incident. Both men and women in MDFR were experiencing rates far above the national average. Dealing with his own treatments, he engaged the Univ. of Miami's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Centers, who joined the search for the cases and apparent causes of these rates.
From his own case, he learned of another, this time in the Palm Beach County Fire Dept. and started to engage their participation in the studies. With that, Keith founded the Florida Chapter of the Firefighter Cancer Support Network. Listen as Keith relates his personal journey which has led him around the country, to both inform and support firefighters about this very dangerous enemy that we face and what we can do to reduce our exposure. For more information, visit the website FirefighterCancerSupport.org
