David Wallace Shares His Cancer Battle

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GRAND BAHAMA – Imagine being healthy one day, and fighting for your life the next.

That was the harsh reality for well-known Grand Bahama businessman and former politician David Wallace.

He shared with us how he came to learn he had aggressive thyroid cancer. Even worse, the diagnosis hit just months after his private health insurance was completely cut off.

Our Evlynn Ferguson tells us more.

For decades, Pirates’ Cove Zipline and Waterpark CEO David Wallace has been a mainstay in Grand Bahama, from comedy and politics to local tourism. While the community famously rallied last year to help fund his initial recovery from throat cancer, Wallace is now sharing the terrifying moment he learned of his diagnosis, and it all started when he went in for a routine health screening.

“I normally do my physical in September. So I say I’ll wait till I go. I went to do the physical.
And low and behold, Dr. Leviticus Rolle told me I needed to do an ultrasound.
Gave me a prescription to go to the hospital. So the hospital tell me, I gotta wait a month.
I say a month for ultrasound. That’s how book they are.”

What he initially brushed off as a simple mosquito bite turned out to be a fast-growing, two-and-a-half-inch tumor in his throat. And Wallace had just reached the standard age cutoff of 65, when his insurance policy was canceled, forcing him to drain his own savings for major surgeries.

“Told me to come back and see him that afternoon. He’ll have the results.
And when I came back that afternoon, he said to me, You need to have this thing biopsy.
So he’d given me a letter to go to the Cleveland Clinic. I called the Cleveland Clinic the same day, you know. I tell them I scared to dead. I don’t know about . So the Cleveland Clinic told me they could see me, but I must bring $250,000.
Yes, $250. I didn’t have no more medical insurance. I had just turned ’65, and my medical insurance had just canceled the age of ’65. “

Now, Wallace is stressing the importance to other men to take their checkups seriously, because waiting can cost far more than money.

“But I do an annual physical, and I want to encourage men. A woman that goes out saying, every man. Once a year. Go and do an annual physical”