Resident swings for the fences in cancer fund-raising event

Published 11:50 am Thursday, October 2, 2008

NORTH BEND – In the past few years, Dave Sharpy of North Bend has faced two monsters.

The first was a one-two punch of hepatitis C and cancer, which he fought for three years.

The second was the left-field wall of Boston’s Fenway Park, known in baseball parlance as “The Green Monster.” Sharpy went to Boston the weekend of July 17 to try and hit a ball over the famed wall to raise money for cancer research.

While he didn’t get any balls over The Green Monster, Sharpy is happy to say that he has been hepatitis and cancer free since last summer.

“I have been blessed,” Sharpy said.

Sharpy was diagnosed with hepatitis C, a blood-borne illness that attacks the liver, in August of 2001. It was unknown how he contracted it, but the best guess was that he got it while working as an ambulance driver in Detroit in the early 1970s, a time when he came across a lot of blood. The disease went undetected for years and Sharpy was in danger of losing his liver.

Luckily, Sharpy had a kind of hepatitis that could be treated and cured. The bad news was that it would take chemotherapy. His first round of treatments lasted seven months. The chemotherapy broke down his immune system so Sharpy would experience severe, flu-like systems that would wipe him out for days. Sharpy was treated with a new drug during his second round of treatment that only put him off his feet every weekend, so he was able to work during the week. It was still no picnic.

“The treatment is worse than the disease,” Sharpy said.

Near the end of the second treatment, Sharpy started to have dental problems. Some of his teeth were falling out, but his doctors initially blamed it on his weakened immune system. An X-ray, however, revealed a growing gray dot near his nasal cavity that was immediately identified as cancer. Sharpy was in surgery just days later to have part of his face peeled back so the doctors could get to the tumor.

The tumor was removed, but Sharpy’s face was mangled. In fact, the nurses at the hospital instructed Sharpy’s wife, Virginia, on how to position herself at his bedside so she wouldn’t have to look at his face. Most of the inside of the left-side of his face was cut away so that if one looks into his mouth with a flashlight, they can see into his eye sockets.

Sharpy said the reconstruction work that followed was nothing less than miraculous. He got a plastic plate inserted into his face, complete with teeth, and had some skin from his leg grafted to his face. Save for some minor scarring, his face looks fine. Moreover, he is still able to talk and eat.

“These plastic prosthetics are amazing,” he said. “The fact I can say that word [prosthetics] is miraculous.”

As Sharpy and his family fought the illnesses, a colleague of Virginia named Justin Burke inquired about how the family was doing. Once Sharpy was through with his treatment, Burke told him about a fantasy camp that’s been held at Fenway Park for the past 12 years. The John Hancock Fantasy Camp allows participants who raise enough money to take 15 pitches to try and hit balls over the famed 37-foot Fenway wall in left field. All of the proceeds from the event go to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and it is the official charity of the Boston Red Sox.

Participants are required to raise at least $1,750 and get themselves to Boston. For each ball hit over the wall, John Hancock donates $2,000, and for each ball that hits the wall, it donates $1,000. Children can also participate and John Hancock donates $100 for each ball hit by a child that reaches the outfield.

Sharpy trained for the event at Mount Si Sports and Fitness in North Bend and got some batting advice from the health club’s baseball instructor Ryan Luther. Although Sharpy hadn’t played baseball since high school, he felt good going into the event.

As for his swings at the plate, Sharpy couldn’t reach The Green Monster, although he did hit a couple to the outfield. He didn’t whiff any balls and he didn’t hit any foul, so he was satisfied with his cuts. The event raised more than $600,000.

Sharpy grew up a Detroit Tigers fan and later became a Seattle Mariners fan, but the chance to hit balls at the famed ball park was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

He also knows how precious life is. As a former ambulance driver and someone who has been working in the health care industry for years, Sharpy has seen people battle disease. As a hepatitis and cancer survivor, he fought that battle himself.

“I’ve always been a live-for-the-day kind of guy,” he said. “And I’m hitting the wall next year.”