Firefighters face higher cancer risk; you can help

The job of a firefighter comes with tremendous danger, but for many firefighters, the fight foes far beyond the fire lines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in a study that firefighters face an increased risk of leukemia.

“I was diagnosed 2 years ago this December,” Mark Taylor, deputy chief of training with the Bend Fire Department, said Monday as three Central Oregon fire departments invited the public to get tested through DNA swabs.

Taylor was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. It’s a diagnosis many firefighters have to face.

“Another captain who is my age in Redmond has leukemia as well,” Taylor said. “Another firefighter in Sunriver has another type of blood cancer as well.”

According to the CDC study of 20,000 firefighters, more than 2,600 had cancer, and over 1,300 died of it.

“Firefighters have an increased risk, just due to the toxins that are released at fires,” Taylor said.

The organization Be The Match is trying to find donors, and not just for firefighters.

“There’s currently 14,000 people across the country who are waiting for a bone marrow transplant,” said Linda Alexander, Western Region manager with Be The Match.

Signing up to be a donor is easy, but the organization still needs a lot more.

“Up to 50 percent of the people who sign up don’t come through in a time of need,” Alexander said.

For those in need, every second counts.

“When people get to the point of needing a bone marrow transplant, they’ve tried other therapies and so time is really of the essence,” Taylor said.

While no Central Oregon firefighter is currently waiting for a bone marrow transplant, they still want to raise awareness.

“People know that we have a dangerous job,” Taylor said. “They don’t know necessarily that we have an increased risk of cancer.”

If anyone is interested to become a donor, they can sign up at www.bethematch.org