Lung cancer survivor looks to the bright side of life

Leslie Cantu

November 01, 2024

an older couple poses under a brick pergola — Juan and Lynne Ramonell are facing his lung cancer diagnosis together, just as they have faced all of life's ups and downs. Photo by Clif Rhodes

There’s a saying in Spain: “Si tienes vida, tienes esperanza.” It means “If you have life, you have hope,” explained Juan Ramonell.

It’s not so different from one of South Carolina’s state mottos: “While I breathe, I hope.”

That is Ramonell’s philosophy as he faces down his third diagnosis of cancer, even as he has warned his family that this diagnosis, lung cancer found at the beginning of this year, will likely be his end.

“I'm a believer that your life is already written,” he said. “You go through, and you meander through it. But it's already done. It's already set. You have a starting date and an ending date. So I'm good with that.”

For Ramonell, 81, those meanderings have taken him through Europe and the U.S., most often accompanied by his wife, Lynne.

“When we travel, it’s just she and I,” he said. “It’s our adventure.”

Born in Spain, Ramonell moved to Maine with his mother and stepfather when he was in high school. From the northeastern tip of the U.S., he then moved to Alabama for college.

After graduation, he became the first white teacher at a Black high school in Bessemer, Alabama, where he taught history, art and Spanish from 1968 to 1975.

Alabama is also where he and Lynne met when they both worked at the Social Security office. Ramonell acknowledged that he was not fully prepared for the technical aspect of the job. Nonetheless, the job led to a lifelong partnership and three children, now spread across the U.S.

Lynne has also seen him through his health problems: first, bladder cancer, which wasn’t too bad, and then, in 2012, colon cancer, which was very difficult.

“It was very scary. But I survived it. So I’m lucky,” Ramonell said.

The lung cancer came to light earlier this year. The couple was on a cruise, and Ramonell developed a cough.

At first, he tried to ignore it. But the cough wouldn’t go away and, concerned about what his fellow passengers might think as they sat down to eat, he visited the ship doctor, who said it was bronchitis.

Not quite satisfied with that answer, he visited his primary care doctor when back on land, who ordered an X-ray. The results indicated the need for a bronchoscopy, a test in which a doctor threads a thin tube into the lungs to get a closer look. It was cancer.

The Ramonells were planning to move from Florida to South Carolina to be closer to family, but this news put a wrench in the works. They didn’t have doctors here or know of anyone. One of their sons, though, a pulmonologist in Pittsburgh, talked to physician friends and eventually got a recommendation – John Wrangle, M.D., at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center.

Ramonell still recalls their first meeting.

“The first thing I told Dr. Wrangle was that I was 81 years old, and I was reaching my epilogue,” he said. “He looked at me. He said, ‘Well, I think you may have a couple of more chapters.’”

“Unbelievable touch. I cannot say enough about Dr. Wrangle. I was enthused to have someone of his caliber taking care of me.”

Now settled in Myrtle Beach near his brother, Ramonell is in the care of Christopher Rangel, M.D.

“He is absolutely wonderful as well,” Ramonell said.

Lynne noted that they have been grateful for the compassion shown by staff.

“Almost every person at MUSC has been so kind and caring. And when you’re going through something, you really appreciate that,” she said.

Ramonell agreed, particularly singling out the infusion nurses for their caring touch.

He is taking one day at a time, he said – as we all must when it comes down to it.

“I have had a wonderful life,” he said. He has a clear conscience and no regrets to keep him up at night.

Instead, he said, he looks to the closing song of “Life of Brian,” one of his favorite movies, for inspiration: “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.”