José Bravo keeps the spice of life despite his battle with cancer | Dayofhope

“I wish nobody had to go through what I did. It's kind of ugly. But if people can get through this, they should just keep an open mind that life is beautiful and good, and if the doctors can handle it, then, hey, let's get through it. If you're not doing it for yourself, do it for your family and your kids,” Bravo said.

The longtime Nipomo resident spent most of his life caring for others: driving buses that took farm workers to and from the fields and for 20 years driving children in the Santa Maria-Bonita School District to and from school.

He had worked as a farm laborer and foreman and then settled into early retirement, working a few days as a maintenance mechanic in a friend's workshop when needed.

Together with his wife, Genoveva, he raised three children and watched seven grandchildren flourish in Nipomo, Santa Maria and Arkansas.

But then he started having trouble swallowing.

“Even drinking water became difficult,” Bravo said.

He was referred to ENT specialist Dr. Zachary Vandegriend, who performed biopsies to discover tumors in Bravo's throat and tonsils. A PET scan before surgery showed that the cancer had spread to Bravo's head.

“An operation was too risky,” said Bravo.

Instead, he went to Mission Hope Cancer Center for seven weeks of intensive treatment: seven weekly chemotherapy infusions and radiation five days a week.

“It was pretty hard to deal with because chemotherapy and radiation don't mix. It's very exhausting,” Bravo said.

At some point during the course of treatment, he became nauseous with everything he tried to eat, so a feeding tube was put in to provide him with food and nutrients.

Since completing his treatment, follow-up visits with his oncologist and ENT doctor as well as tests show that the tumor has disappeared.

“The doctor said I was losing my taste, and that was true. I'm still trying to cope with it. With some foods, it's like eating a sponge. For a while, the saliva goes away so you can't taste anything. The biggest problem was bread and meat; it was like eating shoe leather, but it's getting a little better,” Bravo said.

However, he has problems with the salsa because although it is spicy, the flavor doesn't come through.

“Salsa is one of the things I enjoy most. It's slowly getting better, but it's not going to be 100 percent again,” Bravo said.

He is grateful for Geneva's love and care and the prayers of his family and friends.

“Unfortunately, some of us get cancer. It's unpredictable, but it happens. I don't wish it on anyone because it's painful and it's just not right in the long run. But your whole family is praying for you and hopefully it can pass,” Bravo said.