BY LEON B. CREWS
Sentinel Staff Writer

Like many young men who graduated from high school during the 1960s or early 1970s, Teddy Ricks, Jr., served in Vietnam.

He returned home 100% disabled from the conflict, and managed to build a career for himself and start a family.

Ricks said he thought surviving Vietnam was great until a couple of months ago.

Ricks and his wife had gone out to dinner, and brought some of the food home. At home, he ate the remainder of the food, then went to bed. “The next morning, I woke up sick and couldn’t keep anything down. My wife decided to take me to the emergency room and it was determined I had food poisoning.”

Ricks said they also ran a CAT Scan on him, and gave him some frightening news.[private]

“The doctors told me they found a huge mass on one of my kidneys. I was scheduled for surgery, and after 4-1/2 hours, I was told the surgery was successful. I also spent 8 days in intensive care. If I hadn’t gone to the hospital for the food poisoning, the cancer on my kidney would have spread. Doctors told me I wouldn’t have had any symptoms that warned me there was a problem until it was too late.

“In hindsight, I owe the restaurant a debt of gratitude. If it weren’t for the food poisoning, the cancer wouldn’t have been discovered. It’s amazing how things turn out sometimes.”

Ricks said he’s at home recuperating and on strong medication for pain.[/private]

***Look for full story in Friday’s Sentinel***