Shawn "Skip" Philippon was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma in October 2007.  That is a form of skin cancer.  The tumor was very large and located behind his left eye.  The left lymph node in his neck is also cancerous and is to be removed on 4/17/2008.  Unfortunately, Skip did not have health insurance when he was diagnosed.  His employer switched him to freelancer status in August 2007, thus eliminating his health insurance.  Two months later, he was diagnosed with cancer.

Now, about to turn 40, Skip faces the greatest challenge of his life.  He was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma around Halloween 2007.  Three weeks later on 11/19/2007, he went in for the longest surgery to date (30 hours) at the SUNY Upstate Medical Center (University Hospital).  The tumor went from the sinuses above his left eye down to his upper left palate.  It went across his septum into the right eye orbit.  It had also started entering the brain.  Luckily, only a couple of holes in the skin around the brain were present.  The surgery required the removal of his left eye, his left cheekbone as well as the upper part of his palate below the left cheekbone.  After the surgery Skip spent a week in the surgical intensive care unit.  That was followed by a week in the general recovery area of the hospital.  He was not able to walk unaided for some time, but is expected to regain most of his coordination and mobility.

A section of abdominal muscles were taken from his belly and put in the area where his left eye was.  Another piece of muscle was inserted where his cheekbone was to support the “skin paddle” in his eye socket.  After recovering for a couple of months, Skip underwent almost 7 weeks aggressive radiation and chemotherapy treatments.  After recovery from the radiation and chemotherapy he has several more surgeries.  First, a cancerous lymph node on the left side needs to be removed.  After recovery from this, the long process of reconstructive surgery will begin.  After the myriad of surgeries, Skip will need to check on his condition for the rest of his life.  Squamous cell carcinoma is very curable, but the extensive size, development and propagation of his cancer are extremely rare requiring very regular body scans and future treatments.

It will be a couple of years before Skip can return to work.  He had no insurance when he was diagnosed.  He did qualify for social security help through SSI and SSD programs, but that won’t be enough to cover his regular monthly bills.  If he returns to work, there is no way he could work enough to cover the astronomical medical bills and would lose the support from SSI/SSD.  But, the support from SSI/SSD is not enough to pay the regular bills, let alone the supplemental needs like medical supplies and extra gasoline to drive to the multitude of doctors appointments.

Skip graduated with a B.S. in mathematics from Clarkson in 1991 and a M.S.T. in mathematics from Potsdam State in 1992.  He was a very active member of his fraternity Zeta Nu holding 6 offices while completing his studies.  He even served as the house cook for the fraternity one year.  He also ran a tie-dye business while at ZN at the same time as he worked as a cook at Maxfield’s Restaurant and played in a band.

After leaving Potsdam, Skip taught at Jefferson Community College in Watertown, NY for three years.  He also designed a number of statistical process control training programs for industry in the area.  His next stop was a 10 year teaching job at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.  He designed and taught the applied calculus courses at the college.  Since leaving SUNY ESF, Skip started a home-based computer consulting business.  His clients include the Syracuse City School District, Naef Recycling, and Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company.  His latest work was designing computerized test banks for various college textbook publishers.

Site last updated 5/20/2009 (Updates, new pictures and videos!)