Biz reporter runs for cancer — while he battles cancer

Tucker Echols covers general assignment stories for the Washington Business Journal and provides business coverage for WTOP. He is also battling cancer.

Hank Silverberg of WTOP writes, “Tucker Echols, the Washington Business Journal’s reporter normally heard on WTOP every morning, is battling diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, a type of cancer that was discovered after he found a lump on his neck.

“‘The very good news here is that it’s very treatable,’ says Echols.

“‘There is a chemotherapy regimen that has worked more than 10 years, almost 15 now, to give lots of folks like me, who catch it early, a good chance of survival.’

“When the cancer is caught early, patients have an 80 percent chance of survival.

“But Echols, who is 51, has lost his hair to chemotherapy. And he has had a few difficult moments, like telling his two kids, who are 6 and 8.

“They asked him if he was going to die.

 “‘I said, ‘No, I’m not going to die. That is the good news here.'”

Read more here.