Experience of Tongue Cancer Survivor Speaks Volumes about Turning Something Bad into Something Good

Highlights Relay For Life® gives hope to this disc jockey and to millions of others. Click here to learn all about Relay.

Nearly 10 years ago, radio personality Jose Vallenilla was broadsided with a big dose of irony. He was diagnosed with cancer, but not just any cancer. "My cancer was in my tongue, of all places," he explains. "My tongue is my life."

Jose, better known as “Funky Joe,” is one-half of the duo that hosts “El Bayu,” the number one morning radio show in Puerto Rico. The other half is Antonio Sanchez, better known as Tony “the Gangster.”

“Funky Joe” and Tony “the Gangster” are not only radio cohorts; they are friends of more than two decades. When Joe found out about his cancer, Tony was one of the first people he told. "I began to cry,” Tony says now, “because he's a very special person."

It Was One Thing After the Other

Initially, Joe wasn’t terribly worried. The doctor had only spoken of a tumor on his tongue that he said was probably benign. It wasn't until the doctor suggested Joe get treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York that Joe became truly concerned.

“That same day I got on a plane and I left the island and I went to New York,” Joe remembers.

A biopsy at the cancer center confirmed Joe's fears: The tumor was, indeed, cancer. But there was a silver lining. The doctors told him it was one of the most treatable types of tongue cancer. Within 3 days of beginning treatment, his tumor had completely disappeared, and a few months later, he was finished with his chemotherapy.

Joe seemed to be in good health, exercising and eating well. Then about a month after his last treatment, he suddenly felt a pain in his left leg, which caused him to lose movement in his foot. He returned to New York, and by the time he got to the hospital he could hardly walk. “When I got into the emergency room, [the doctors] immediately scrambled,” Joe says.

The cancer had spread to his brain, and he had to be treated with more chemotherapy through tubes in his head and chest. But even that wasn’t the end of it.

No sooner had he been released from the hospital after that treatment than he had to be readmitted for treatment of viral meningitis. His situation began to seem so absurd that he decided to face it with a positive attitude.

"You know, I just started laughing,” recalls Joe. “I said, ‘How can this be that so many things can happen to me?’ And I said, ‘All right, all right, I can take this; c’mon, just throw it at me!’”

Joe and Tony’s Show Proves Invaluable

Despite his upbeat outlook, Joe still had a long way to go in his recovery. He needed a bone marrow transplant, which was going to cost about $200,000. With his savings already spent, Joe couldn't afford the procedure.

He turned to his old friend and cohort, Tony, for advice.

Tony suggested asking their show’s fans for help raising the money, but Joe was reluctant to get his listeners involved in such a personal matter. Tony convinced him it was the best alternative they had.

Joe says Tony’s participation in the fund drive was crucial. “I am sure that because they heard the hurt that was inside him – the feeling that was inside him – that that transmitted to the rest of the island and everybody just rallied support around me,” Joe explains.

The fund drive raised more than $300,000 – more than what was needed for Joe’s bone marrow transplant, which was highly successful.

Joe’s Dollars Beget More Dollars

As soon as Joe got back to work after his treatment, he repaid the money into the fund so it could be used to help others in need. “The money from the people got extended to help a lot of other people,” Joe says.

But Joe’s contributions didn’t end there. He discovered Relay For Life, the American Cancer Society’s signature event held each year to help save lives and celebrate those who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against the disease. Being surrounded by so many people whose lives have been touched by cancer left Joe with “an incredible, incredible feeling.” So much so that Joe served for 5 years as the honorary chairman of the Puerto Rico Relay event.

Now cancer-free and feeling “like a 15-year-old,” Joe says the experience has left him a better, happier person.

Relay For Life is one way communities can join the fight against cancer and help the American Cancer Society save lives. To learn more about how the Society is helping people stay well, helping people get well, finding cures, and fighting back, click here.

About Relay For Life, Jose Vallenilla says, “This is therapy – for the head, really, and for the heart, and for the spirit. Hope is the word that everybody wants to come out of this event with in their hearts.”