My name is Bob Horne and I reside in Fulda, MN with my wife Deb. We have lived in Fulda for 30 years. We raised two boys, Jason (36) and Jeffrey (31) .
I am 61 years old and have been retired since June of 2012. Prior to retiring I worked for Kraft Foods, formerly Nabisco Foods and Sather’s Candy. My entire career was in Sales or Sales Management with an emphasis being in the Convenience Store and Distribution class of trade.
My main hobby includes spending time with family and friends. In addition, some other interests would include golfing, boating, hunting and special visits from my children and grandchildren.
Prior to my cancer diagnosis I would go about my day to day activities just like everyone else would taking one day at a time.
In December of 2014, I came down with a sore throat along with swollen glands. After a few weeks, Doctor visits and antibiotics, the swelling was not going down in my glands. I was told I should have a biopsy done to see what was going on. There were tests done and nothing seemed to show up and two biopsies were said to be negative. I went about my life as normal. Then in January, things began to change. My neck became more swollen and a lump appeared. More biopsies, exploratory tests, and a tonsillectomy were ordered, all coming back as negative.
Finally in February of 2015, one more pathology test was ordered, what began as a sore throat as an initial diagnosis turned out to be Stage 4 Squamous Cell Carcinoma, caused by a virus.
I was then scheduled for surgery to find out how large the mass was and if it had spread into the lymph nodes. After surgery, the Doctors assured me that they had removed as much of the mass from my neck area as they possibly could and would need to start a regiment of chemotherapy and radiation as soon as possible. After hearing this, it was hard to know how to react. I then assured my family that it would be all right. All we needed to do was to take one day at a time, listen to what the doctors and nurses recommended along with thinking positive and we would have positive results.
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