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• See bottom of story for links to related topics.
• Top thumbnail photo courtesy F.Carter Smith – www.fcartersmith.com
Sam Hassenbusch is just like you: He loves his Victory, rides it every chance he gets and tells all his friends how great Victory Motorcycles are.
Actually, Sam is just like you if you’re a neurosurgeon, which he is at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
And Sam is just like you if you’re taking a new vaccine to combat glioblastomas – brain tumors for which there has previously been no successful long-term treatment.
You have likely heard or read about Dr. Sam here on the Victory website, in Newsweek magazine or on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, who interviewed Sam for a two-part story about his cancer and the unique new therapy he is utilizing.
But if he had his druthers, Sam wouldn’t be defined by his brain tumors nor his treatment. No, he’d be defined by his love for his family, his work as a neurosurgeon and, of course, as a Victory Rider.
’A BIG VICTORY FAN’
“I’m a big Victory fan,” the good doctor told the VRA Page staff in a telephone interview. “I think it’s the best bike out there.”
Sam calls himself a “relatively new” rider. He had a hankering to begin riding motorcycles, and his son’s encouragement spurred him into action. In 2002 he took an MSF rider training course and got his motorcycle endorsement, then bought his Victory Vegas.
“[My wife Rhonda and I] had an empty nest, the kids were out of college and you reach a point where you do those things you’ve wanted to do,” Sam said.
The Vegas appealed to him because of what he feels is Arlen Ness’s influence on the styling, and because “it’s the cleanest design. It was named Cruiser of the Year. It’s such a clean look.”
The bike’s performance is appealing, too, especially with the Stage 1 kit and Ness pipes Sam has on his bike. Since buying the bike he has added numerous chrome accessories and a touring seat, and Ed Olson, who does a lot of custom paint work in the Houston area, painted ghost flames on the black Vegas.
Sam purchased the bike on June 14, 2003, and has rolled up over 38,000. His goal is to top the 41,000-mile mark by June 14, his fourth anniversary with the bike. Ask Sam for his mileage and he’ll be able to tell you – to the 10th of a mile.
“At this point, I’ve got a log of every mile I’ve ever ridden. As a neurosurgeon, I’m a bit obsessive-compulsive, and that’s a good thing,” he laughed. “Would you want a neurosurgeon who wasn’t obsessive-compulsive? No.
“I live 3 miles from the hospital and I ride the bike almost every day – I ride every chance I get – but I never do the 3-mile route. Usually it’s 15 miles to work and 15 back. I don’t really look at the clock. I just ride. My personal best is the time I turned the 3-mile ride into 105 miles.”
Along with stretching his daily commute, he enjoys riding the toll way to Texas Hill Country. “I basically go 50, 60 miles out to Hill Country, then come back around – grudgingly.
“I ride year-round, in the cold and in the hot summer, rain or shine… I’ve learned to take my tie off before riding home from work. Rhonda got so tired of me ruining ties. I have a Victory mesh jacket and even though we can have high humidity and 95 degrees, at least there’s air flowing through that jacket. Basically, it’s like being out there with nothing on in the chest area. It’s a great jacket.”
RIDING AS THERAPY
Some of the rare days when Sam does not ride are days when he needs to undergo testing to evaluate his progress in fending off the tumors.
“On test days, I’m supposed to keep my [blood’s] white count down, so I don’t ride. The motorcycle always makes the white count go up,” he said.
He definitely sees the benefits of riding for people in his situation.
“Motorcycling is not a bad thing. A bike kind of massages your muscles and you pump a little adrenaline while you’re doing it,” he said. “It can be a great thing for someone doing chemo[therapy]. I would say for most people with chemo, [the chemo] doesn’t affect their mental issues. It might make them feel weak on some days, but it’s not a problem really if you’re doing simple riding, like 5, 10 or 15 miles.
“Last year, basically 12 months after my diagnosis, I still did 9,000 miles of riding. I’m now in my second 12 months and my goal for this year is 11,000-12,000 miles. Cancer patients need goals, and I’m going to keep riding.”
While he mostly rides alone on his daily jaunts, he sometimes rides with groups like the Victory Riders who take group rides from Polaris West in Katy, Texas, or the group from Gene’s Polaris in Baytown. He is connected with two area Christian motorcycle clubs and has helped organize a riders group of about 135 people who work at the medical center.
Sam has been to Bike Week in Daytona and he and Rhonda have been to Sturgis.
“We’re thinking about going to Sturgis again. I have the itch to go,” he said. “Maybe four or five of us will run up there. It’s actually closer for us than Daytona and I like the riding up there. Everything is fairly compact and close together.”
NEW VACCINE IS SHOWING WELL
For Sam and Rhonda, 2004 was the year of their Sturgis trip. 2005 was their year of life-changing discovery.
It was in 2005 that Sam had a string of headaches over a month’s time. He felt sure it was nothing serious, but agreed to have an MRI done to prove it. Shortly after undergoing the MRI, he saw a brain scan mounted on a viewer and, unfortunately for that patient – whoever it might be – the scan showed a significant tumor. It was obvious to Sam it was a glioblastoma, the type of tumor for which there was no known cure.
Poor guy, Sam thought about the unknown patient, he’s in for a rough road ahead.
Unfortunately, when Sam took a closer look, he saw his name on the film. That was his brain, his brain tumor.
Sam underwent surgery to have the tumor removed, but no one – not him, Rhonda, nor his doctors and co-workers – fooled themselves into believing the problem was gone. That’s because glioblastomas can spread undetected, then, after some time, produce new tumors.
Sam said operating to remove a glioblastoma is like trying to cut the chocolate out of a marble cake. “You simply can’t get it all,” he said. That’s why patients with these types of tumors have, in the past, had little hope of ever being cancer-free.
“The survival figures [for these types of tumors] are the most pessimistic numbers out there,” Sam said. “Fifty percent of patients don’t survive more than one year.”
But Sam’s situation was different.
“I’ve never been lucky before, but I happened to come down with my diagnosis in the right place at the right time.”
Researchers at Duke University and the Anderson Cancer Center where Sam works had developed a new vaccine that has shown very well in laboratory tests. He consulted his colleagues and asked that he be given the vaccine to test its effectiveness on a human.
To date, the vaccine has proven highly effective, and Sam has supplemented it with chemotherapy.
“I’m getting the ‘double whammy,’” he laughed. “Those cute little mice were a good predictors.”
Indeed, for a full 20 months since his treatment began, Sam has tested clean – no evidence of tumors or suspicious areas. The key milestone, he said, is the 24-month mark “because the likelihood of recurrence after 24 months is very small. But you need five years [cancer-free] before you use the ‘C’ word – ‘cure.’”
Yet studies such as the one that produced this new vaccine face fiscal challenges.
“This therapy has had an 80% success rate so far, but it needs funding. What’s frustrating is that funding for the National Cancer Institute and cancer research is going down, yet this comes at a time when we are truly winning the war against cancer.”
RIDIN’ FOR THE ROSE
Sam is no longer performing surgery, but has become a consultant with the ultimate credibility – he is a cancer patient himself – to cancer patients who turn to the Anderson Cancer Center for help.
One of his most special patients ever was Dr. Marnie Rose, who was on the staff with Sam until her death from cancer in 2002. She was a special doctor whose story was documented in an historic ABC-TV reality series called “Houston Medical.”
Following Marnie’s death, friends, family and co-workers started the “Run for the Rose,” a running and walking event, to raise both cancer awareness and funds for research. Three years ago, a second event was added that held special appeal to Sam – the “Ridin’ for the Rose” motorcycle ride.
Both events are held in Houston in March, and Sam leads the motorcycle ride on his Vegas. He was joined once again this year on the ride by a strong contingent of Victory Riders from southern Texas. He reported that about 1,000 motorcyclists took part in this year’s ride and they raised about $30,000 for cancer research.
If his therapy – the new vaccine combined with chemo – continues to work well, Sam will lead many more rides in honor of Marnie. Plus, he and Rhonda will get to enjoy their grandchild who is due this summer, trips to Sturgis and many, many more well-chronicled miles on Sam’s Victory Vegas.
ASSOCIATED LINKS
Riding’ for the Rose Motorcycle Ride www.ridinfortherose.com
Run for the Rose www.runfortherose.com
Online Coverage from The CBS Evening News
The CBS Evening News website has transcripts of both evenings’ reports, video of the both reports, and a special video feature called “Eye to Eye: Sam Hassenbusch,” which consists of extended footage from Couric’s interview with Dr. Sam.
Transcript of Part 1 of “Heal Thyself”: Part 1
Transcript of Part 2 of “Heal Thyself”: Part 2
On the right side of these CBS pages, look for links to videos of the reports that were broadcast and “Eye to Eye: Sam Hassenbusch.”
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