LINN — Cancer, the big “C” that scares nearly everyone, is usually associated with well-known issues, such as breast, rectal, or colorectal cancer, and even lung cancer is prominent.

But cancer in the neck? That’s one most people don’t think about, yet it was a real problem for Dennis “Pedro” Hoelscher of Linn, whose battle ended recently with a clean bill of health from his doctor.

“We thought it would be during the visit when we got the news,” said Sarah Hoelscher, who stood by him the entire way, along with friends, family, and members of the Linn football team.

Sarah noted they expected to hear the news during a visit with the doctor. “The radiologist had not read the report, so we were a little disappointed,” she explained, adding that the doctor offered to put the information in his chart. “I’m like, what if it’s not good news? That’s not what I want to read in my chart, but Pedro and the doctor both knew it would be fine.”

Instead, the news was presented by text as the couple was eating breakfast while visiting friends in Washington, Mo. “My phone dinged and said, ‘You have new results.’ We were in the middle of a crowded, loud restaurant, and I asked Pedro if he wanted to do it there,” Sarah recalled. “He was like, “Yeah,” so we read it, and then sat there and cried. It was such a relief to know that he beat it.”

EARLY DETECTION PROVED IMPERATIVE

“I originally found out it had a knot on my neck, and that’s what started it all,” said Pedro. “I just happened to notice that something didn’t feel right while I was shaving, and I remember thinking, ‘there’s a knot there.’”

“He said he needed to go to the doctor, and I knew at that point, like, ooh, that’s not good, because he never wants to go to the doctor,” Sarah said with a chuckle.

Pedro agreed. “I hadn’t been to a doctor for a while,” he said.

That awareness proved critical, as Pedro was diagnosed on Aug. 29, 2025, with “squamous cell carcinoma, head and neck tumor,” a type of cancer lining the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx —  the sixth most common cancer worldwide, with approximately 890,000 new cases annually.

Sarah remembers the date for a specific reason: that was the Friday before Labor Day, and her son, Cameron, had a game that night. “It was the first game of the year,” she said. “That’s how I remember that.”

What followed was a rapid and, at times, unsettling introduction to the complexity of cancer treatment decisions.

“We weren’t happy with what the doctors in Jeff City told us, so we called Barnes-Jewish and got a second opinion,” Sarah said.

That decision proved pivotal.

“They have doctors who do nothing but head and neck tumors,” Pedro said of the Siteman Cancer Center’s program based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St.  Louis. “It’s their specialty; all day long, that’s all they do.”

Doctors there encouraged a quick visit to get the ball rolling.

It turns out the cancer originated in the tonsils and spread to Pedro’s neck. “They said, ‘Well, this didn’t come from just that knot. It came from somewhere else,’” Sarah said.

“They pulled my mouth open and said, ‘Do your tonsils hurt?’ I said no,’” and they said, ‘Well, they’re swelled up.’ That’s where it all originated from—my tonsils,” Pedro offered.

Initially, doctors in Jefferson City recommended removing one tonsil and moving ahead with chemo and radiation. “Well, I didn’t want to do chemo,” said Pedro.

Sarah added, “We didn’t understand why they wouldn’t take out the lymph nodes either. They said they had to wait and go through the tumor board, and that didn’t sit well with us at all. That’s when we sent everything to St. Louis.”

“We felt like God led us to Barnes,” Sara added. “If we had not gone there and done the complete removal, I feel like we’d still be fighting this, and he would not have the results he had. We’d still be dealing with problem after another.”

MOVING TO ST. LOUIS

After consultation with the Siteman Cancer Center, the Hoelschers decided to proceed with the St. Louis hospital’s approach. “They said, ‘We’re pretty positive we can handle this and take care of it.’” Pedro said, noting doctors there advised him not to have the tonsil removed.

“His doctor told Pedro, ‘I’m your new best friend for the next five years. You and me, bud,”” said Sarah.

She said doctors were amazed at how well Pedro did with the surgery.

“The next morning, they brought me breakfast,” Pedro recalled. “The doctor came in there, and he goes, ‘What’d you have for breakfast?’ I told him I had sausage, eggs, and something soft. He goes, ‘You’re not supposed to have that.’ I said, I’m hungry,’ and told him it didn’t bother me. I said it was a little scratchy in the throat, but otherwise, no, it didn’t bother me one bit.”

“He asked the doctor when he could have White Castle, and the doctor said that wasn’t on his bingo card,” said Sarah with a laugh.

The next morning, nurses were hesitant to deliver the same food after realizing their mistake. “I told them to bring it in earlier, and I would eat it and not say anything,” said Pedro, who spent three days recovering in the hospital.

The concern was real as doctors removed not only the offending tonsil, but a lot of the tissue around it in the throat.

“The doctor told us not to be surprised when we looked in there,” said Sarah. “He told us the black hole we’d see was normal.”

KEEPING LIFE MOVING

Real life had to be considered, but both Pedro and Sarah are fortunate to have considerate employers.

Pedro is a heavy equipment operator for a contractor based in St. Louis, while Sarah is the business administrator for First Assembly of God in Jefferson City.

“My job was great about it,” Pedro said. “They told me to come to work when I felt like it, and if not, to take as much time as I needed.”

The same response came from Sarah’s employer. “They said, ‘Family first — take care of Pedro and then worry about us.’ They told me my job would be there waiting for me when I was ready,” she said. “ So, I took my computer with me and worked during the day except for when he had treatments.”

That gave them the security that this illness and whatever treatment followed would not result in job loss.

The next part of their life to secure was how their kids would react, especially given the couple’s plan.

“We moved up there temporarily,” Sarah explained. “We stayed up there during the week and came home on the weekends.”

However, they had to leave their kids, Lily, Cody, and Cameron in Linn. Though Cody doesn’t live with his parents, he’s in town and helped.

“Mom’s across the driveway and took responsibility for getting Lily to work and picking her up from Healing Horses.”

EXTENDED FAMILY SUPPORT

On top of that, members of Community Christian Church, where the Hoelscher family faithfully attends, made sure the kids were fed, bringing food regularly to the house.

“Our church family was incredible,” Sarah said. “We appreciate everything they did. I don’t know how people do this without a church family.”

It was challenging for the kids to be separated from their parents, and it brought about serious contemplation. “Lily was very concerned,” Sarah said. “She took it in stride, though, and handled it very well, even better than the boys at times.”

The Hoelschers have been involved with the Linn football program since it returned to the school. Pedro and Sarah did not want to interrupt Cameron’s senior year on the gridiron. “One of our very biggest concerns was to keep things as normal as possible for Cameron, to not make this ruin his senior year, and to let him be able to enjoy the season,” Sarah said.

It was no surprise that Cameron’s teammates would rally around him during this difficult time. “His friends really stepped up,” Sarah said. “They were there for him. They didn’t leave him alone. They gave him no time by himself to slow down and think about it. The coaches knew, and so they were really good about keeping an eye on him.”

High School Principal Erin Sassmann was equally supportive. “She was like, ‘Whatever you need, let us know. If he needs to be gone, if he needs to miss school to be with you guys, that’s fine. We’ll work with you.’ She was very gracious and supportive, and we’re grateful for that.”

A BIG SURPRISE AWAITS

To set the stage for this reveal, it’s important to understand the timeline.

After Pedro’s diagnosis, his doctor scheduled surgery for Oct. 14, a relatively short time to prepare after the initial prognosis.

“He had surgery on a Wednesday and wanted to go to the game that Friday,” Sarah shared. “We made it home in time for me to go, but I’m like, ‘You are not sitting outside in this’ cooler weather. I was able to make it because something got switched around. He was able to make the rest of them.”

Pedro’s return to the field came on Senior Night, which was special for many reasons.

“We watched the boys come out, and they kept touching their helmets and pointing at me,” Pedro said. “I didn’t know what that meant until later.”

Sarah explained that some football moms designed a sticker and had it printed for the boys to put on their helmets.

“Jessica (Durham) walked up and put a sticker on him,” Sarah said of her husband. “She’s like, they’re on their helmets. And we’re like, what? And everybody in the stands got a sticker. They dedicated that game and played for Pedro.”

Though the Wildcats lost that game to Harrisburg, the feeling of solidarity and family remains.

Sarah admits she didn’t post much about the situation online, but a friend, Danielle Peters, took charge and provided updates. “Friends also did a little fundraising,” she added. “We sold bracelets, t-shirts, and hoodies, you know, basic fundraising, just small stuff, but we appreciate it. Danielle took care of that. Our football family stepped up, designed everything, and took care of orders. It’s amazing how people come together.”

Mandy Muenks designed the t-shirts and helped with distribution.

PUSHING FOR THE GOAL LINE

Doctors learned that a PET scan showed cancer in two lymph nodes. “They took out a bunch, and it had actually been in seven nodes.”

That led them to diagnose his cancer at Stage 2. “It was more progressed than they originally thought,” Sarah explained.

Pedro was fortunate in the sense that he only needed one round of chemotherapy, followed by radiation for five weeks. That’s when the couple temporarily relocated to St. Louis.

“The doctor told him he would get car sick if we tried to drive from Linn to St. Louis every day,” Sarah noted. “We were blessed with a good community and our family. My mother got us an Airbnb, and we stayed up there during the week, and we came home on the weekend.”

Pedro also benefited from participating in a clinical trial.

“It’s amazing how fast Pedro healed, compared to if he wasn’t on a clinical trial,” Sarah said, noting that another patient dealt with the same thing, but wasn’t on a clinical trial, and his recovery is much slower. “He’s still eating softer foods,” said Pedro, “and I’m starting to get my hair back. I got my mustache back.”

That was something of a joke since Pedro’s hair was all but gone ahead of the procedure. “Everybody was joking that I was going to lose my hair,” he quipped.

Pedro’s post-operative treatments began after he was 100% healed because radiation would have been detrimental to his recovery.

“We started those right around Thanksgiving and finished on Christmas Eve,” said Sarah. “It was the best present.”

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Pedro is extremely grateful for the support he received and acknowledged that it might have been a different outcome had he ignored his initial findings.

“If something doesn’t feel right, get it checked out,” he said. “It could save your life. If you put it off, it’s gonna hurt in the long run.”

Both agree that faith played a big role in this successful outcome. “We know it was God who sent us to Siteman,” Sarah said.

Pedro added that he appreciates the way people in this area look after one another, noting that every prayer mattered. “We have a lot of prayer warriors here,” he said.

“We go to church every Sunday,” Sarah added. “I don’t know how people get through this without extra support. We give praise to God for seeing Pedro through this.”