Neal Samson has been the owner/operator of Skunky Pumpers Commercial Septic Tank Services in Riverside, California, since 1984. He knows from personal experience how potentially disastrous unplanned health issues can be for a pumping business and how important it is to prepare for such events before they happen.
Pumper talked with Samson about his own unplanned health issue and the impact it had on his business. Samson detailed the steps that pumping business owners can take to protect their assets and themselves from such risks.
Pumper: Please tell us about your personal unplanned health issue.
Samson: As we all know, those of us that drive trucks have to have a commercial driver’s license. One of the requirements is to have a biannual physical checkup, which keeps us compliant so we can drive a Class 6/Class 8 truck, which most of us do. So, I went in for my 2011 physical, at which time they did blood work on me, and that’s when we found out that my PSA (prostate-specific antigen) number was extremely high. The normal high is 4.0. My number came back at 50.2.
Pumper: So what happened next?
Samson: Given my high PSA reading, I was sent to a hospital for a prostate biopsy. Sure enough, they found that I had prostate cancer. I then had to have an MRI, which showed that the prostate had ruptured and that the cancer cells were starting to spread. Given the survival rate of 50/50, I made the decision to do and take every type of treatment available at that time, which was a radical prostatectomy: the removal of the prostate. I also underwent chemotherapy, radiation and testosterone deprivation infusions. That was a good year and a half process.
Pumper: What happened with your business? How was it affected by your illness?
Samson: I was an owner/operator with no employees at the time. Fortunately, I located a driver who kept the pumping end of my business afloat. Meanwhile, I was able to run the normal office end of things. As far as physical work was concerned, that was totally out of the question. So if I hadn’t been able to find temporary help, I could have possibly lost the business. And given how sick I was, I would’ve just closed the doors and put the business up for sale.
Pumper: Now that it’s all said and done, what were the big lessons you learned?
Samson: If you’re an employer, make sure you have someone on staff who can keep the business running should you fall ill. But if someone is an owner/operator running solo, as I was, that’s a plan that individuals should really look at hard; especially if they are up in age like I am. You could get hurt bad enough to where you couldn’t drive a truck or continue the work that we do. Somehow you have to plan for that.
Pumper: How do you prepare for that with staff members?
Samson: By training them to do so now. For instance, the office personnel should be able to do the stuff that the owner does. If they can’t, they’re not educated enough. The office personnel should be trained and informed to pick up that part of the business if the owner is unable to do it.
Pumper: For you, this whole story started with your CDL physical. Besides that, what can people do?
Samson: Don’t wait until you’re ill to check on your medical health. I would suggest annual physicals for anybody over 45, especially if there is prostate cancer in the family; that’s a definite necessity. Think of it as being preventive maintenance on a body just like we do on our trucks. Now, I don’t know if every state in the U.S. or Canada requires a biannual physical. I think they do, but even if they don’t, I’d highly recommend that for starters.
Pumper: Do you think it’s a lack of awareness, or stubbornness keeping people from getting routine checkups?
Samson: I think it’s the old mentality of feeling normal which translates into there’s nothing wrong going on inside my body. After all my treatments were finished, every guy that I came across, and that was hundreds of them, I’d bring up the topic of prostate cancer and ask, “Have you ever had your PSA checked?” Unfortunately, 50% of the guys that I talked to didn’t even know what a PSA was or know if prostate cancer ran in their family. If your father, your grandpa or your uncle or anybody on your father’s side had prostate cancer, you’ve got a real good chance of coming down with this type of cancer too. My grandfather died from it, my father was cured of it. And I never once had lab work until I was 59. Procrastination and stupidity almost got me killed.
Pumper: Besides annual checkups, are there things pumpers can do daily to keep up on their body maintenance?
Samson: Sure. Just do what has been pounded in our heads all our lives. Eat well, exercise, get plenty of rest and keep your stress and blood pressure levels down. And stay away from the vacuum pump’s exhaust smoke.
Pumper: Any last thoughts or final words of advice?
Samson: Being a truck driver with required physicals certainly saved my life, because if I hadn’t been a truck driver, I wouldn’t have caught the cancer in time. Prostate cancer is the third-leading killer of men, behind heart and lung disease. The good news is, when caught in its early stages, it’s one of the most curable cancers there is. The doctors told me another two months down the road and it’d been too late. This is why the license plate on my 10 wheeler now says ‘LKYSKNK’, which I consider myself to be because I was extremely lucky to have caught this in time.
