Richard Shaffer left his wife and sons behind to move across the country for six months to take part in a cancer clinical trial so he could survive and return to his family.

The tumor at the base of his esophagus was discovered a year after he had completed his first Ironman triathlon. Everyone, including Richard, was surprised that someone so healthy was in danger of dying of cancer. Local oncologists were not optimistic. But his nephew, a leukemia survivor who credits his survival to participation in cancer research, told Richard about clinical trials and suggested he contact M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. It is a conversation Richard believes saved his life.

He packed up his things and headed to Houston amid tears. The separation was especially hard on his young sons, and they didn’t understand why he had to be so far away for so long. “They didn’t understand cancer, but it was either go to Houston or be gone forever,” Richard says.

Family members came to stay with Richard in Houston and other family and friends supported his wife and children back in New York State. Both the treatment and the separation were brutal, but Richard was determined to make it through. He worked out every day during his treatment and motivated himself and his fellow patients with his positive outlook. Less than a year after his cancer surgery, Richard and his wife completed the Houston Marathon.

“Thanks to family, the doctors at M.D. Anderson and my participation in a clinical trial, my results have been phenomenal. I continue to amaze my doctors,” Richard says, “I am alive and cancer free.”

Richard believes clinical trials are such an important option for cancer patients and he wants to share his inspiring story so more people will consider them. The Bristol-Myers Squibb Tour of Hope™ is an opportunity to get the message out and to celebrate his victory.

“I’m living, walking proof – a billboard – that cancer can be beaten and clinical trials work,” Richard says. “What if I hadn’t participated in a clinical trial? Would I be doing as well as I am today? Would I even be alive?”

“A clinical trial can be the beginning of a new cancer-free life and participation is the only way we’ll ever get control of a tough opponent, cancer,” he says.