Candidate for Shelter Island Town Board says cancer ‘very treatable’

About two months ago, Art Williams decided to see a doctor for a persistent sore throat. His primary care physician advised him to see a specialist, who initially diagnosed the sore throat as the result of acid reflux.

But when it persisted, he took further tests ­­— a CT scan and a biopsy, which revealed a squamous cell carcinoma affecting his throat and some lymph nodes. Squamous cells are thin, flat cells that line the throat. Carcinoma means cancer.

The good news, he told the Reporter, is his condition is “very treatable. I’m expecting a full recovery.”

Bu the former supervisor who is a candidate for a Town Board seat in November finds the timing, to say the least, inconvenient. Instead of campaigning as fully as he would like, he has to undergo radiation five days a week for seven weeks, and take chemotherapy six times.

Having just started his treatments, he finds the radiation treatments not bad, but as many cancer patients have experienced, the chemotherapy is more difficult.

He was told to expect fatigue and to “eat like a horse” to counteract weight loss. In the course of the treatments, he was told to expect increased pain.

Asked how this affects his campaign, Mr. Williams said, “I’m going to do my best to be available.” But reasonably speaking, he knows he will be more limited than is typical for a candidate in critical weeks before an election.

If his treatments interrupt his campaign, he wants voters to know that, if he’s elected, he’ll be ready for “full-steam ahead” if he takes office in January.

“I’m more dedicated than ever,” Mr. Williams said. “I really want to serve the community again.”