As a 20-year-old junior at UC Berkeley, Terry Healey didn't have much to worry about. He was smart, athletic and attractive, president of his fraternity and popular with women.

And then one October day in 1984 Healey discovered the tumor that would change his life - and his handsome features - forever.

Twenty years and 30 reconstructive surgeries later, the part-time Truckee resident is telling his story in boardrooms and gymnasiums across the country as well as in a recently published a book, "At Face Value: My Triumph Over a Disfiguring Cancer," about his traumatic experience and his will to thrive.

"I've always wanted to share my story," Healey said. "I have days where I don't feel great about myself, but I feel better when I can share and people are inspired."

Healey's cancer, called fibrosarcoma, developed as a small facial tumor that doctors first dismissed as a cyst. One even suggested it was a pimple. But biopsy results painted a much different picture - a malignant tumor that, if not removed, could prove fatal.

"Several people on the Tumor Board told me that he was incurable," said Dr. Roger Crumley, Healey's original oncologist at the UC San Francisco Medical Center. "That bothered me quite a bit. You have to at least give the young man a chance."

The first operation to remove the tumor was successful and relatively minor. But six months later, when the cancer returned, Healey's surgery was much less forgiving.

In order to remove the malignant mass and the tissue surrounding the tumor, doctors literally had to take apart Healey's face.

"The tumor itself was not disfiguring, it was the surgery," Crumley said. "There is no way of removing the tumor without part of the nose, part of the cheek, part of the lip, and all of the bone under the cheek. There was a huge hole in his face about the size of a baseball."

Filling that hole was only part of the battle, Healey said, because the void he felt inside was much deeper.

In 1989, Healey boarded a plane bound for Chicago for his final of six visits to Dr. Ronald Brighton, deemed the best nasal reconstructive surgeon in the nation at the time.

"My goal was to have a symmetrical nasal reconstruction," Healey said. "I had a positive feeling that everything was going to turn out right. And then I saw myself in the mirror and it was so disappointing. I was devastated."

It took hitting bottom there in Chicago before Healey decided to call it quits and turn his focus away from his face and onto healing the man within. He had undergone nearly 30 surgeries, and had to accept the fact that his face would never again appear as it was.

"I had to step back after every brutal thing and think about what I could learn from it and what I could do better," Healey said.

And so he began talking.

Healey, a business man and consultant by trade, presents his story to companies and groups nationwide. His messages address everyday challenges such as identifying and overcoming obstacles, building trust and learning the value of tolerance and acceptance.

"My story isn't just about cancer or disfigurement, it's about a much broader issue," Healey said in his book. "We all need to look beyond appearances, look deeper, and focus on the internal, rather than external, fabric that makes up the human spirit."



Check it out

Cancer survivor, motivational speaker and author Terry Healey will have a book signing for his memoir, At Face Value: My Triumph Over a Disfiguring Cancer, at the Bookshelf at Hooligan Rocks on July 20 at 6:30 p.m.