Each week WCCO's Laura Oakes finds some of the good going on in our world on her podcast and Sunday morning show, "Laura's Good News." This week she had a chance to talk with longtime KARE-11 reporter Boyd Huppert, who is in the battle of his life right now.
We've been watching his award-winning "Land of 10,000 Stories" for years. Huppert's heartwarming feature stories capturing the best of Minnesota - and Minnesotans. Little did he think he'd become the story, which is exactly what happened in September when Huppert was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer that lives in bone marrow.
"As I look back over the last few months before my diagnosis, I guess there were signs,” Huppert told Laura Oakes. “I'd been getting tired more often. I'm a racquetball player and just found myself getting gassed. It was actually some eye floaters- little bits of blood - that were showing up as shadows in my eye that got me into the eye doctor. From there, some blood tests revealed it was something serious. My treatment since then has been chemotherapy which I get every Thursday. (That) is leading to hopefully a bone marrow transplant in the next few weeks."
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In the meantime, Huppert is still working on his “Land of 10,000 Stories” segments from home. In his bubble as he calls it, to stay safe.
His photographer gathers the needed interviews, and Boyd whips up the rest from his dining room table on days that he feels good. Other days, he says he can sleep for hours, and admits that the roller coaster can do a number on his mental health.
"With physical health, so goes mental health, I'm finding,” Huppert explains. “When I'm feeling good, I feel more optimistic about things. It's certainly given me a sense of empathy with every other person who's gone down this road before me with multiple myeloma and other forms of cancer."
Huppert says he's learned a lot from his interview subjects over the years such as cherishing those relationships and experiences that are now helping him.
"Oh, many, many,” Huppert says of those relationships. “And that led me to this decision to talk about this publicly too. I have made that ask of so many people over the years who are going through difficult situations, including cancer. I've asked them to share their stories. And I thought, 'how hypocritical would it be of me not to make that ask of myself?'”
As for his work, Huppert says it has become a form of therapy, often immersing himself so deeply into his rich and superb storytelling that he loses all track of time.
"I want to keep working as much as I can through this process,” says Huppert. “The work is the one place that I can go where I can forget about cancer for a few hours. It's a nice place to go. I can put everything else aside for a little while and just write, which is one of my passions."
Huppert has what will surely be another of his passions coming along soon. His first granddaughter, who he can't wait to meet, and hold, once he's able.
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