Jones diagnosed with cancer, still teaching
39-year-old professor: "Living for me is working and playing music"
Kat Timpf
Issue date: 9/17/09 Section: News
Professor of Music Eric Jones, 39, will continue to teach classes and drum lessons despite being diagnosed on April 25 with stage 4 glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer.
"I think when you look at your own mortality, one thing you want to do is you want to live, you don't want to feel sorry for yourself," he said. "I plan on living with cancer for a long time. I want to live with cancer, and living for me is working and playing music."
Jones said he originally considered the diagnosis a "death sentence," since it is considered the worst type of brain cancer, but gained hope after learning about new treatments, such as the new medicines Temedol and Avastin. He takes these instead of regular chemotherapy - which often has trouble targeting cancer inside the brain because the organ is so well protected.
Music Department Chairman James Holleman said the news of Jones' cancer came as a shock to him.
"I'm friends with him and his wife, and close to his daughters," he said. "We have dinners together, we camp together, we go to the lake together."
He also helped Jones pick out his new Harley Davidson motorcycle over the summer.
Holleman said he admires Jones' positive attitude.
"We just tried to share in those positive thoughts and not think negatively," he said. "I told some people he was my hero, the way he handled this."
This positive attitude is evident in Jones's blog, The Adventures of Tumor Boy and Rawkit Girl, in which he continually writes about how great he feels.
Holleman said he does expect Jones to have some bad days, but knows he will still be an excellent teacher.
Sophomore and percussion major Holly Buell said that when she thinks about Jones's teaching before and after his diagnosis, she feels like he is as "good as ever."
"I visited him in the hospital with a couple of older percussionists," Buell said. "We all really love him, it would have been devastating had he not been able to come back, and that's really not exaggerating at all. Even though I have a lot to learn, he pushes you hard enough, but not to an impossible amount."
Jones said he thinks he has actually improved in some ways after his diagnosis.
"I appreciate life more," he said. "I'm not sure I am going to wish for the end of the semester as much as I used to. A lot of us, before something happens, we wish a lot of our life away. Spring break will come… I look forward to the motorcycle ride home."
"I think when you look at your own mortality, one thing you want to do is you want to live, you don't want to feel sorry for yourself," he said. "I plan on living with cancer for a long time. I want to live with cancer, and living for me is working and playing music."
Jones said he originally considered the diagnosis a "death sentence," since it is considered the worst type of brain cancer, but gained hope after learning about new treatments, such as the new medicines Temedol and Avastin. He takes these instead of regular chemotherapy - which often has trouble targeting cancer inside the brain because the organ is so well protected.
Music Department Chairman James Holleman said the news of Jones' cancer came as a shock to him.
"I'm friends with him and his wife, and close to his daughters," he said. "We have dinners together, we camp together, we go to the lake together."
He also helped Jones pick out his new Harley Davidson motorcycle over the summer.
Holleman said he admires Jones' positive attitude.
"We just tried to share in those positive thoughts and not think negatively," he said. "I told some people he was my hero, the way he handled this."
This positive attitude is evident in Jones's blog, The Adventures of Tumor Boy and Rawkit Girl, in which he continually writes about how great he feels.
Holleman said he does expect Jones to have some bad days, but knows he will still be an excellent teacher.
Sophomore and percussion major Holly Buell said that when she thinks about Jones's teaching before and after his diagnosis, she feels like he is as "good as ever."
"I visited him in the hospital with a couple of older percussionists," Buell said. "We all really love him, it would have been devastating had he not been able to come back, and that's really not exaggerating at all. Even though I have a lot to learn, he pushes you hard enough, but not to an impossible amount."
Jones said he thinks he has actually improved in some ways after his diagnosis.
"I appreciate life more," he said. "I'm not sure I am going to wish for the end of the semester as much as I used to. A lot of us, before something happens, we wish a lot of our life away. Spring break will come… I look forward to the motorcycle ride home."
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