33-year old Flower Mound firefighter loses battle with work-related cancer
Flower Mound firefighter and paramedic Wade Cannon died Saturday night after losing his battle with occupational colon cancer.
He was 33 and is survived by his wife Chelsea.
The Flower Mound Fire Department announced his passing on its social media channels Sunday.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family,” the social media posts read, adding that about a memorial service to honor Cannon will be released at a later date.
Cannon joined the department in 2016, and always had a smile on his face, a department spokesperson wrote in an email to the Star-Telegram.
He was a member of the department’s safety and fire education team, and played a clown character named ”Res-Q” in educational skits the department puts on for local elementary schools, the spokesperson wrote.
“He soaked up every good day, every good moment, every good minute, and every good second God gave him on this earth,” his wife Chelsea wrote in a Facebook post announcing her husband’s passing.
Despite the hardship of two years of chemotherapy and clinical trials, Cannon always stayed “positive and passionate about life through it all,” she wrote, adding that she would honor her husband’s legacy by sharing his story to help save more lives.
Tim Mackling, president of the local firefighters’ union and the captain in Cannon’s fire house, said he’ll always remember how much Cannon cared about family.
“When he met you, you were family,” Mackling said. “I didn’t have brothers growing up. It was like having a brother.”
The family is working on a list of charities for people to support In lieu of sending flowers, Mackling.
While the full list is still forthcoming, he pointed to the charity Michael’s Memories, which helps diagnosed firefighters for a “getaway from cancer,” by paying the cost of a family vacation.
Cannon was diagnosed with stage-4 colon cancer at the age of 31.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends regular colon cancer screenings starting at age 45, but Cannon pushed his doctors for a screening after experiencing symptoms.
His experience made him an advocate for early cancer screenings, going so far as to push other members of the Flower Mound fire department to get screened.
That effort led to two fellow firefighters being diagnosed with stage-1 colon cancer giving them a 91% chance of survival, according to the American Cancer Society.
Cannon is the latest firefighter to lose his life to work-related cancer.
Fort Worth Fire Department held a funeral Sept. 28 for engineer David Greene, who passed away the week prior after losing his life to occupational brain cancer.
Greene was 56 and had served the department for 29 years.
The life expectancy for firefighters is 10 years less than the average person, according to reporting by “PBS NewsHour.”
It’s not clear why, but some have pointed to the use of so-called “forever chemicals” used in fire retardant materials and home construction.
Mackling said fire departments can do more to make cancer screening a part of yearly physicals.
“The leading cause of firefighter deaths used to be heart attacks. Now it’s occupational cancer,” he said.
Mackling praised the leadership of the Flower Mound fire department in taking steps like ensuring every firefighter has two sets of gear.
This allows the firefighter to have one clean set, while harmful chemicals are being washed off the other.
Mackling acknowledged nothing can be done to completely eliminate the risk firefighters face from occupational cancers, but said he hoped these small steps could prevent other firefighters from dying in the primes of their lives.
This story was originally published October 2, 2022 at 1:11 PM.
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