Dear Readers

EDITOR SPOTLIGHT: Marcpeyser

ONE REASON people like me become journalists is that we get to meet the kinds of people we’d never encounter in our own boring lives. I still can’t believe this geeky guy from suburban Columbia, Maryland, once sat with Yoko Ono in her kitchen to talk about John Lennon’s legacy. (I was so afraid I’d make a mess in her palatial New York City apartment that I wouldn’t even accept a cup of coffee.)

As memorable as that was, it doesn’t really compare to photographer Spencer Heyfron’s assignment for this issue. A father of two and an enthusiastic boxer, Spencer, 45, was having trouble swallowing in the summer of 2016. He went to the doctor, even though he knew he was too young and healthy to worry much. “Maybe it’s cancer,” he joked to his doctor.

It was cancer. Specifically, stage 4 cancer of the esophagus that had spread to one lymph node. His doctors were so concerned about the aggressiveness of his case that they started him on chemotherapy and radiation even before they had all the test results. Uncertain of his future, Spencer shared the news sparingly.

“When you tell friends and family, you see them crumble, and there’s nothing you can do about it,” he says. “It’s hard. You feel guilty for hurting them.”

Still, word got around, including to Rebecca Simpson Steele, our photo director. When we began to work on our cover story about the dramatic CAR T breakthrough in cancer treatment, she asked Spencer if he’d like to do the photography. He said yes.

Meeting Dr. Steven Rosenberg, who was one of President Reagan’s cancer doctors, was inspiring, Spencer says. But it was the patients who rocked his world. “Looking back on my time in treatment, I was in complete denial,” says Spencer, who has been cancer-free since July 2017. “This helped me open up. I said to the patients, ‘You and me—we had this experience even the doctors don’t understand.’ It’s like a club—the cancer club.

We all had cancer, and we all survived.”