Sam Houston Spotlight: Dr. James Olson
Onward march to success: Professor fights cancer and gains respect from students
Kristin Pearl
Issue date: 3/20/07 Section: Campus News
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Most students do know that the auditorium in AB4 has been named in honor of this professor, but they do not know the reason for the dedication, or much about his life in general.
Olson began his elaborate career by earning his Ph.D. from the State University of New York, Stony Brook campus. He was immediately offered multiple teaching positions after his graduation.
He chose to come to Sam Houston State in 1972, but Olson did not expect to love it so much that he would not be able to leave.
He said that SHSU gives him the chance to "take [his] research interest wherever [he] wants it to go," and he loves how it "allows [him] to move into different areas."
Olson said he enjoys teaching and researching at this school so much that he plans on "staying here till [he] retires."
He has been teaching and doing his research at Sam for 35 years, which others have praised by itself. However, that is not where Olson's story ends.
After eight years of teaching, he was diagnosed with a type of cancer known as Epithelioid Sarcoma. Olson said a deep lesion was found attached to the tendon in his left wrist and then the cancer slowly spread into his hand.
Although he went through treatment, studies show that it is fairly common for this type of cancer to keep reoccurring, which is exactly what happened to Olson.
In 1987, after five recurrences of the cancer, doctors decided the only thing left to do was to amputate his hand.
Olson did not let this hardship keep him from teaching and researching. He had his amputation surgery over Christmas break that year and returned to teaching in January.
After the amputation, Olson said he hoped that would be the end of his cancer-just six years later, another cancer was found in his forehead.
This time, doctors were fortunately able to remove the cancer successfully, giving Olson hope once again.
In 2000, he was involved in a car accident and was given a CAT scan to confirm that there was no serious injury. The CAT scan found another cancerous mass, known as an oligodendroglioma tumor, in his brain.
Doctors operated on Olson in 2002 and he also underwent chemotherapy.
The brain mass returned and he was operated on one more time in 2004.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Sachin Palewar
posted 3/23/07 @ 8:37 AM EST
Wow an inspirational true story indeed. I came to this article searching for sarcoma as my wife is also a survivor of ES.
Good to read this extraordinary story. (Continued…)
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