Life is (still) sweet

Roger Sweet, of Lake Stevens, Washington, is a designer and the creator of the superhero character He-Man. In 1999, he was diagnosed with a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that can be aggressive.

“I underwent chemotherapy on and off for a couple of years,” says Sweet. “I lost all my hair—but the chemo didn’t knock out the disease. When a transplant was offered, in my mind there wasn’t any choice.”

That’s how Sweet found himself at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. There, he also got one very heavy dose of radiation. “It just went after the lymphoma, not the rest of me,” he says.

Nonetheless, Sweet had to stay in the hospital for five weeks while his immune system recovered. “Actually, I didn’t feel too bad,” he recalls. “But for three days I wasn’t allowed to have anyone in my room because I was radioactive.” He used his time in the hospital to teach himself the blues on an electric piano. He also worked out for 45 minutes every day.

Nine years later, Sweet is living up to his He-Man creation. “I feel excellent,” he says. “At age 72, I can do 35 forward-grip pull-ups.”