Gerry Lee holds up his son Lucas' arms Wednesday at his home in Lodi. Lucas recently overcame his battle with cancer. Gerry now faces his own challenge: an inoperable brain tumor. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

'I refuse to give up'

Lodi man has inoperable brain cancer after son survives illness

The ring tone on Gerry Lee's cell phone is the Hank Williams Jr. song "A Country Boy Can Survive."

Lee, a country boy from Lodi, has survived battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has helped his baby son, Lucas, survive a rare form of eye cancer.

Now, Lee, 29, faces the biggest threat to his survival — an inoperable brain tumor.

"I refuse to give up," said Lee, who lead the pledge of allegiance before President Bush's speech in Stockton in October. "I'm going to fight it."

Lucas Lee, who will turn one on Friday, suffered from retinoblastoma, a rare childhood cancer that took the form of a tumor in his left eye. He has had chemotherapy for the last nine months, and doctors are close to declaring him cancer-free, his mother Sherry Moon said.

"We have an MRI on July 10," said Moon, Gerry Lee's partner. "If doctors don't find any more cancer, he'll be cured. He will be a normal baby."

Lee met Moon while serving in the Army in Saudi Arabia. Lucas is their second child together.

Around the same time Lucas began to fight off his cancer, Gerry Lee was suffering from splitting headaches. He saw a doctor who diagnosed him with a stage three malignant brain tumor.

"Now it's my turn," Lee said. "It's been one crazy thing after another."

Doctors removed 70 percent of the tumor in May, but couldn't get the rest. They have given him three to five years to live. Lee must drive to Sacramento every day for radiation treatment.

The cancer has left Lee unable to work. He recently finished his service with the Army National Guard.

Brain tumor facts

Sherry Moon, right, holds her son Lucas, who recently overcame a battle with cancer. Lucas' father, Gerry Lee, left, who recently found out he had cancer, sits with his older son, 6-year-old Austin. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

• Each year over 190,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with a primary or metastatic brain tumor.
• Brain tumors are a leading cause of death from childhood cancer, accounting for almost a quarter of cancer deaths in children up to 19 years of age. Brain tumors are the second leading cause of cancer death in young adults ages 20-39.
• Metastatic brain tumors (cancer that has spread from other parts of the body) occur in 10-15 percent of people with cancer and are the most common type of brain tumor.
• In the United States, the overall incidence of all primary brain tumors is 14 per 100,000 people.
• There are over 120 different types of brain tumors, making effective treatment very complicated.
• Brain tumors can be malignant or benign, and in either case can be life threatening. Because brain tumors are located at the control center for thought, emotion and movement, their effects can be devastating.
• At present, standard treatments for brain tumors include surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, used either individually or in combination.
• Brain tumors in children are different from those in adults and are often treated differently. Although as many as 69 percent of children will survive, they are often left with long-term side effects.
Source: The National Brain Tumor Foundation.

Lee served as a prison guard in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and helped in the recovery effort with Hurricane Katrina. He fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now he is fighting the Army to get them to pay for his medical bills.

If he can prove he developed the tumor because of something he was exposed to during his service, then the Army could provide him a retirement package with full medical benefits. Otherwise, he will have to find some way to pay for the costly treatment.

"They are being stubborn," Lee said. "It's irritating."

Besides daily radiation treatment, Lee has to take pills that fight the tumor but leave him feeling sick.

He is thrilled that Lucas is crawling and yapping like a healthy baby, but he wants to be able to enjoy fatherhood.

"I'm going to beat it," he said. "I'm going to be a survivor. I want to see my kids grow up."

Contact reporter Matt Brown at mattb@lodinews.com.