UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center Magazine Winter 2018 | Page 13

As for his parents, they were devastated. “My
parents are elderly, and my mother was absolutely
heartbroken. She thought I was going to die. I
kept reminding her that we have to be positive,
we don’t need negativity.”
At the time, Raita was doing what he loves,
reporting as a sports anchor for ABC 33/40. He
continued going to work and appearing on live
television, however, Raita did not tell his viewers
nor the majority of his coworkers of his diagnosis.
“I did not want them to treat me differently. I
mean what are they supposed to say to me? I did
not want the kind of attention where people are
tip-toeing around me and ignoring the fact that
I have cancer. So, yes I was secretive about my
diagnosis because I did not want it to define me
in the eyes of all these people,” says Raita.
Feeling the Support
Raita’s cancer required chemotherapy and
radiation, followed by surgery. “Chemotherapy
wasn’t that bad, and radiation was a piece of
cake. About eight weeks after my major surgery
I had recovered, but the doctors had to wait
nine months to reverse the ostomy. There were
trying moments, but it all went smoothly.” Raita
did experience fatigue as a main symptom from
chemotherapy, but he pushed through it and
maintained his normal routine, missing only
one day of work before his surgery.
“I received a lot of viewer feedback once I
underwent surgery, I even got letters from kids
in schools and felt like everybody was pulling for
me. It meant a lot to me that people took time
from their own lives to encourage me.” Raita
felt tons of encouragement from the community
during his battle with cancer, and this motivation
is what helped him push through the hardest
of days.
“I had a great support system, both from the
community and at UAB. Dr. Tina Wood was
my oncologist, and Dr. Marty Heslin was my
surgeon — both of them are just terrific. I was
so blessed to be at UAB,” says Raita. After being
cancer free for five years, the doctors found
a couple spots on Raita’s lung that they wanted
to remove, but he did not need chemotherapy
or radiation and bounced back after two
short weeks.
Moving On
“Everybody knows somebody who has had
cancer. Either you’ve had it yourself, your brother,
your grandmother, or your friend of a friend has
had cancer. I am not special because I had cancer,
I am one in hundreds of thousands of people
who have had this disease.” Raita is very attentive
to his follow-up appointments and other yearly
check-ups.
He feels strongly in encouraging others to
receive their necessary colorectal screening,
although he jokingly admits the preparation
for that procedure is the worst part. “There are
things in life that I think are prudent that you
do, I think getting your colonoscopy is one of
them,” says Raita. “Pay attention to your body.
Pay attention to what you eat, but really just
try to stay in tune with your body and address
ailments that don’t feel right.”
Now more than two years’ cancer free, Raita
laughs, “I am living life man! I feel great!”
Raita has spent a lot of his time doing freelance
work, interviewing, speaking to groups about
his cancer journey and being a cancer survivor.
“I do not think about cancer. I am more than
happy to speak to groups or give advice from my
experience, but again, cancer is not something I
think about nor something I have ever let define
me or dictate who I am going to be.”
Raita is currently working for an advertising
agency in Birmingham. “Your diagnosis is not
the end of the world. Continue to be yourself and
do what you do. It is not as bad as you think it is,
if you have the right attitude.”
# K N O W U A B C C C
•
“I didn’t want
people to look
at me with some
sort of sympathy
because I have
cancer. I wanted
them to watch
me because of
who I am and
what I love
doing.”
U A B . E D U / C A N C E R
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