Sturgill, Mary
Bucky Mock says hes trying to prevent other firefighters from going through what he has gone through fighting cancer.
Manning, SC (WLTX) Almost exactly a month ago, on July 18, News 19 aired the investigation, called “Cancer: killing our heroes”. WLTX looked into firefighters and the rate at which they get cancer.
Now there is a new initiative in the state to help get the data so badly needed.
Bucky Mock was diagnosed with Muliple Myeloma in 2012, last year he stopped his maintenance chemotherapy. He tells News 19, “I wanted to lead as normal and productive life as I can.”
That desire motivated the 72-year-old to climb almost 3,000 feet up El Capitan and repell down. He was doing that, when the story aired.
Now he is on another mission.
He says, “It was right after the airing of ‘Cancer: Killing our Heroes,’ and when you said you contacted 93 stations and only 20 responded, And some said they absolutely could not give you any information; we then decided the best way to get the information would be to go directly to the firefighter.”
In partnership with the South Carolina Firefighters’ Association, they have created a database in which firefighters log on and self report. Mock says, “It takes a very short time to complete and if gives us some pertinent information.” and he says, its anonymous.
Jason Pope the Deputy Director of the Association couldn’t meet for an interview, but he sent this statement saying: “The State Firefighters’ Association is trying to do its part in addressing the emerging issue of firefighter cancer. Is the job killing them? The answer is maybe. The lack of good data within our profession has been a stumbling block for getting presumptive health coverage, so we have created this survey to build our own database. One issue we discovered pertains to volunteer firefighters. If a volunteer firefighter is diagnosed with cancer, he often, as you would expect, lists his full-time job as his occupation when beginning treatment. We want them to also list that they are a firefighter so the data can be tracked. ”
Mock explains, “If we can get a presumptive act, presumptive care means that people that have firefighting related cancer, they’re covered by workman’s comp.”
But before any of that happens. They need the data for South Carolina.
In this new battle, Mock has now added this component to the best practices and cancer prevention talks he gives around the state. In each talk he invites firefighters to join the survey and walks them through the process. He says, “I just don’t want people to go through what I’ve gone through.”
If you are interested in participating, just go to the SC Firefighters Association Website.
Or this link takes you directly there: http://scfirefighters.org/resources/safety-and-health/firefighter-cancer-database/