CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Corpus Christi firefighters will soon receive comprehensive cancer screenings after city council approved the resolution on Tuesday.
"I've been diagnosed with malignant melanoma three times in the time that I've been in the fire service," said Scott Marsh, Battalion Chief CCFD.
"So I did get diagnosed with cancer, stage four," said Santiago Garcia, CCFD Firefighter.
These two Corpus Christi firefighters are cancer survivors who spoke at Tuesday's City Council meeting during public comments. They voiced their support for a council agenda item that would provide comprehensive cancer screening for all uniformed CCFD firefighters. The two-year agreement with Grail Incorporated would be paid for from the general fund.
"If we had this back in 2009, 2018, 2023, and the times that I was diagnosed, there's a good possibility that it would have been caught in one of those screenings," Chief Marsh said.
Firefighters have a 9% higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer and a 14% higher risk of dying from cancer than the general population. The Galleri test screens for 31 different types of cancer through a simple blood test.
"We've had probably 40 or 50 guys in the last 10 years that have had some type of cancer, probably occupational cancer. And we've actually had two line-of-duty deaths from occupational cancer," said Johnny Stobbs, 936 President.
Stobbs says the union surveyed the fire department and 99.9% said they want to take the test.
"I'm going to end up with five more brothers or sisters that are going to be positive for cancer. And although I'm sad about that, I'm happy that they're going to know. They're not going to have to wait a year or two years or when it's too late," Stobbs said.
The fire department expects to have all firefighters screened by the end of the year.
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