Cancer survivor shows Shady Spring students what can happen if you dip
9/18/2002 West Virginia Bev Davis Register-Herald When Gruen Von Behrens speaks, kids listen. It's more than his words, however, that captures their full attention. His face deformed and scarred from 27 different surgeries to correct damage caused by oral cancer, the 25-year-old Illinois native offers teens a passionate message - look at the results of spit tobacco use and beat the addiction while there's still time. "I started dipping when I was 13. I thought it was a cool thing to do. I can tell you this. Looking the way I do now is not cool," he told more than 100 Shady Spring High School sophomores gathered Tuesday for a special assembly in the school's cafeteria. Von Behrens suspected he had mouth cancer several months before he had the courage to see a doctor. "My tongue was completely split and it was all white and yucky looking. I knew it was cancer, but I didn't want to face it. Cancer has made my life a living hell. Every time I turn around, they are putting me in the hospital, either to have surgery or some kind of treatment. Do you think it's cool to have your girlfriend kiss you and you can't even feel it? Trust me, it isn't. It's terrible," he said. Students sat in rapt silence as the cancer victim told his story. When he asked how many of them knew someone who uses spit tobacco, scores of hands went up. RESA I tobacco prevention specialist Lori McGraw [...]