Source: Star-Tribune

Writer: ALLISON RUPP

Gruen Von Behrens’ story brought some middle-schoolers to tears.

If it didn’t bring tears, it at least had them asking questions and thinking about the negative effects of tobacco.

During the question and answer part of Von Behrens’ presentation, one girl’s voice trembled as she asked, “How long does it take someone to die from tobacco?”

Von Behrens doesn’t care if he scares students. In fact, that’s what he wants.

“Some of the things may scare you,” he said in the beginning. “If scaring you is what keeps you from using tobacco products, then I am going to scare the pants off you.”

Von Behrens didn’t even need to open his mouth for some fear to set in. He has undergone 34 surgeries and hundreds of procedures to remove oral cancer from his mouth and repair what was left over. His face prominently shows what chewing tobacco can do.

The 31-year-old lost all his teeth, most of his tongue and his jaw, although part of a leg bone was used to replace the jaw. Layers of skin from his thigh were used to try to rebuild his chin.

Von Behrens began chewing tobacco at 13.

Students and teachers called the presentation “powerful.”

“My parents don’t smoke, do drugs or really drink alcohol so I always knew I didn’t really want to do that stuff,” said Levi Shade, an eighth-grader at Poison Spider School. “But now it’s a sure thing — I will never ever do it.”

Von Behrens travels all over the country and Canada speaking to students, professional athletes and communities about tobacco.

This week he visited nine Wyoming counties to kick off Through With Chew Week, which begins Sunday. Thursday he spoke to several hundred grade school students at Natrona County High School.

In the 45 minutes he talked, he said about 36 people in the United States died from a tobacco-related illness.

“It’s a wake-up call for how serious it could be,” said Lauren Hedges, an eighth-grader at Poison Spider School.

By age 17, cancer started to grow, but Von Behrens was afraid to tell anyone. His mother noticed slurred speech and drooling, because the cancer spot grew so big it split his tongue in half.

She took him to the dentist and the teenager finally had to make his secret known. Six days later, he underwent a 13-hour surgery.

Two years later, he had his teeth removed.

“I was 19, a sophomore in college, it’s supposed to be the best years of my life and I had dentures,” Von Behrens said. “I looked different. I talked weird. I went from being the person everyone looked up to, to the person everyone looked at.”

Smoking is just as dangerous, he said.

“Guys, looking like this is not fun,” Von Behrens said. “I can’t go back to my hotel and take this off because I am tired of people looking at me.”

He said he wants to give other people the opportunity to learn from his mistakes.

Language arts teacher Angela Crouch said her students at Poison Spider School are exposed to tobacco products because of the rural ranching community they live in.

“I don’t think they can ever hear this message enough,” Crouch said. “It’s so easy for them to tune out their parents. It’s different when they hear it from someone else.”

Von Behrens warned about tobacco companies targeting children their age.

Think about candy cigarettes and Big League Chew Bubble Gum, which resembles chewing tobacco, he said.

In his presentations, he also talks about not judging people by the way they look and realizing how important family is.

“I know I can be hard to understand…I apologize,” Von Behrens said. “If you listen carefully and pay attention, I think you’ll get my message today.”

With tears, questions of concern and declarations against tobacco, this group of Casper students heard his message.