‘I don’t crush really easy’: Vietnam veteran battles stage 4 cancer after his home miraculously escapes Oregon Road fire
The Oregon Road fire was just the start of a devastating weekend for Michael O’Connor.
The Vietnam veteran said he was certain his Elk home would be consumed by flames after he evacuated the first night of the fire on Aug. 18. To his surprise, he returned the next morning to an undamaged home thanks to a quick-thinking fireman who found the keys and used O’Connor’s own tractor to dig a fire line and stop the fire’s progression.
The fire still damaged some of his property and then things grew worse.
O’Connor, 75, went to the VA hospital that Sunday morning for what he described as debilitating shoulder and neck pain. That’s when he learned he had cancer.
O’Connor is now undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments for stage 4 lung cancer.
“I would like to say it was a crushing blow, but I don’t crush really easy,” said O’Connor, who essentially lost his voice Saturday because of the radiation treatment.
O’Connor and his ex-wife, Merri Mattson, were watching the news on the late afternoon of Aug. 18 when they learned of the fire burning near Medical Lake. Mattson said they were then notified of a more imminent threat, the soon-to-be-named Oregon Road fire.
The pair and their two golden retrievers evacuated at 10 p.m. and both said they were “positive” their house, where O’Connor has lived since 2006, would burn.
Area hotel rooms were full, so the two slept in their cars in a parking lot across from Yoke’s Fresh Market in Mead. O’Connor slept in his Toyota FJ Cruiser, which he dubbed “Hotel Toyota.”
After little sleep and ignoring evacuation notices, the two drove back to their Enoch Road home the next morning.
There, they learned a firefighter had retrieved from a toolbox the keys to O’Connor’s green John Deere tractor, which was parked in the front yard, Mattson said. She said the firefighter used the tractor to build a fire line through the back yard.
The line, which had been filled and had fresh grass growing from it, was visible Saturday.
“It’s just amazing how it just stopped it,” Mattson said of the fire line.
The fire scorched pine trees and a fence and burned part of the siding on a shed or two, but that was it. O’Connor said he was “lucky and grateful.”
On Saturday, members of Veterans Community Response, a nonprofit organization that helps veterans, cut down and removed burned trees left standing on O’Connor’s property.
O’Connor said he was grateful for their help.
“Can’t thank you enough,” O’Connor told Kelly Kiki, president of Veterans Community Response, Saturday.
Kiki said he was honored and humbled to meet O’Connor who sacrificed so much throughout his life.
Travis Alexander, a member of the veterans organization who cut trees Saturday, said O’Connor has a good sense of humor despite the fire and cancer.
“When you’ve been through what he’s been through in Vietnam and his life story, you know this is just another chapter that he’s going through and I think he recognizes that,” Alexander said. “He’s just got to keep his chin up and fight the good fight. That’s all you can do.”
The organization helps veterans with manual labor tasks, like cutting trees or helping them move to another home, while also helping them heal emotionally by taking them on retreats.
“What we do is helping other veterans and that, in turn, gives us a sense of purpose and helps us in our own personal struggles because that’s vital for veterans who need to stay on track,” Alexander said.
O’Connor, who spent part of his childhood living on the South Hill, and Mattson stayed at the Historic Davenport Hotel in downtown Spokane Aug. 19 because the hotel allows pets. O’Connor’s shoulder and neck pain started when he took his dogs out on a leash.
“I never knew or associated this much pain with cancer,” he said.
O’Connor got X-rays and a CT scan the morning of Aug. 20 and a doctor told him he likely has cancer. The diagnosis was confirmed later that month.
The doctor told him treatment may be able to stretch his life out another year.
O’Connor said he feels grateful to have lived to 75 after seeing so many of his fellow soldiers die in Vietnam.
“I said, ‘Well, everybody dies of something,’ ” he said of his conversation with the doctor.
O’Connor, who served in the Army, flew Cobra attack helicopters during the Vietnam War. O’Connor used the Cobra to escort troop-carrying helicopters and to protect troops on the ground, he said.
He said his father was a pilot and “it’s all I wanted to do.”
O’Connor was shot in 1969 and a Purple Heart certificate for the wound is displayed in his home.
“All I saw was combat,” he said of his time in Vietnam.
O’Connor and Mattson believe the cancer stems from exposure to Agent Orange, a powerful herbicide used by U.S. military forces during the Vietnam War to eliminate forest cover for enemy troops.
He continued flying helicopters all over the world after the war as a civilian pilot. Part of his flying duties included helping install power lines.
O’Connor then switched to fixed-wing aircraft. He flew for Horizon Air for 18 years before retiring in 2007.
He said he plans to spend the time he has left getting his affairs in order, enjoying time with friends and family and “live well.”
“He’s got a lot of Vietnam friends, a lot,” Mattson said. “They have stayed very close.”
O’Connor said he’s just trying to stay positive.
“That’s all you can do, isn’t it?” he said.