KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler said Friday he's been humbled and gratified by the outpouring of support shown following his announcement that he's fighting pancreatic cancer.
"Let me tell you, the prayers have been unreal. Not only the prayers, but I've gotten text messages, emails, cards," Spangler told journalists Friday during a meeting. "This is just a small stack of cards that I've received here. It's overwhelming -- to a good point."
Spangler announced in February he'd been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a serious and sobering disease. He learned his condition after enduring persistent pain for months while trying to locate the source. Subsequently, doctors informed him they'd also found a spot on his liver.
Spangler, a career law officer who is in the middle of his second term in office, said he was dumbfounded to learn he had cancer. What did I do wrong? he wondered to himself.
"You start thinking the worst of the worst," he noted.
But he jumped immediately into treatment, and he's made a point of being on the job as much as possible since then.
He's had seven chemotherapy treatments so far, taking place about every other week. Next week he's set to get his eighth treatment.
He said Friday he feels good but is enduring the same predictable side effects from the chemo that others get -- weakness and loss of appetite being two of the obvious ones.
Lately, he's felt that his endurance is improving and he's able to spend more full days at the office. The weeks that he gets treatment he needs a few days to get over the effects of the chemo.
Spangler is not a man used to slowing down or feeling sorry for himself. He's got two years and two months to go in his second term, and he said he plans to be at work through his final term in office.
A couple weeks ago he made a personal appeal at Knox County Commission for a salary boost for his officers.
"I can't lay down. I'm not going to let anyone down," Spangler said. "I'm going to be the sheriff and I'm going to do the job that's required of me to do...with a little bit of a speed bump, so to speak."
After two months of enduring treatment, he said he wanted to share this advice to others who might be facing chemo or going through it now: If your doctor tells you to drink lots of liquids, then do it.
Early on in his treatment, the sheriff said he didn't feel like drinking liquids much, it wasn't appealing, and he ended up in the hospital getting treatment for dehydration.
"Listen to what your doctor and staff tell you to do," he said.
He's giving that same advice to Sheriff Wayne Potter of Morgan County. A few weeks ago Potter called his colleague to inform him that he had just learned he had pancreatic cancer.
Spangler said he's tried to be a sounding board and a source of advice to Potter since. Potter called him twice Thursday as he underwent his first round of treatment, Spangler said.
"Things are positive on my end, and I hope they turn out that way with Wayne as well," he said.
All the cards and good wishes he's gotten from the community and staff have helped a lot, Spangler said.
He showed off a small pile of them Friday he'd gotten recently. He has others at home.
Good wishes have come from fellow officers as well as members of the public from across Tennessee.
"Every card that I get, I sit there and read it," Spangler said.
