Faison attended Grant High, where he ran track and wrestled at the 135-pound
weight class. He moved around the country after graduation, working jobs that
included cleaning food production equipment in the South. After returning to
Oregon, he washed industrial-sized mixers that stir the dough used to make
bread.
His initial cancer diagnosis made Faison wonder if the illness might have been
caused by chemicals he inhaled at work. It wasn’t until he saw a naturopath and
found a new oncologist that radon crossed his mind.
Faison agreed to let Dr. Rachel Sanborn from the Providence Cancer Institute
speak with the newsroom about his condition. Faison’s late-stage cancer has
spread from his right lung to his diaphragm and liver.
Sanborn said she is “very suspicious” radon caused Faison’s illness. She said
Faison has a minimal history of smoking and that any chemical exposure from
work was likely too recent to have developed into cancer. She said Faison’s
upbringing in Portland was the most likely culprit.
“The timing and the location add up,” she said.
Faison fought the cancer. He took a prescription pill costing $19,011.40 a month,
which insurance from his job on the production line at Nabisco covered.
Faison also began to eat vegan. During an interview, he rose from the couch in his
Northeast Portland apartment to retrieve a guidebook, “Back to Eden,” which
listed an array of natural supplements for cancer. “I did everything this book told
me to do,” he said.
Early scans showed strong progress.