In the early months of 2016, I had a doctor’s appointment at the Kaiser Colton clinic. As I was getting ready that morning, I noticed that I had some swelling on my cheek.
When I arrived at Dr. Robert Schmitt’s office, he saw me and asked, “What is that on your face?” I told him I had just noticed it myself. He scheduled me for an X-Ray at the lab office and told me to wait for the results and take them to him.
He checked the X-Rays and told me there was a lot of mass on the photos and he was going to schedule me for a biopsy exam at the Kaiser Hospital in Fontana.
At the Fontana office, I saw Dr. Mark Segal. He told me that I had Squamous Cell Cancer which is Head and neck cancer. He said that it probably started where my tonsils used to be at. (They were removed when I was very young).
I next saw Dr. Charles Yang, who was my Oncologist. He went on to tell me that I had the same cancer that the actor Michael Douglas had. He was telling me that that type of cancer was treatable.
Dr. Yang went on to tell me that before they would start treating me, I would have to go through a series of tests. I had a feeding tube inserted into my stomach because I would not be able to eat through my mouth.
The Doctor went through the process of me getting high intense radiation thru my throat for seven straight weeks. If my body couldn’t take it, they would decrease the intensity but increase the treatment time. Also, I would be given Chemotherapy three times. At the beginning of the seven weeks, the middle of the seven weeks and the end of seven weeks.
The radiation given to me was 15 minutes each time, but felt like a lifetime.
I was lying down on a table and had a mouthpiece to keep my mouth open and had a facemask on that was strapped to the table to keep me from moving. The open area in front of the mask was for the radiation to go through.
Dr. Aimee Lia Quan was my radiation specialist at Kaiser in Ontario, CA. After I was declared cancer free, I still have follow up appointments at Kaiser in Ontario on a yearly basis.
Dr. Robert Louis Schmitt, who first noticed my condition, was also diagnosed with cancer several years later. He lost his battle with cancer.
May He Rest In Peace.
This essay was written by Rudy Ramirez January 2, 2026 and accompanies the artwork My Life Saving Mask, featured in Rudy C. Ramirez: A Retrospective, 1969 – The Present, on view January 17 through April 12, 2026. Together, the writing and artwork offer insight into the artist’s personal reflections and creative process.
Learn more about the exhibition.