Television chef creates weblog
to document personal cancer treatment
By Dan Pool

When Hans Rueffert returned from New York after making it to
the final round of the Next Food Network Star competition, he had
just gotten back to his normal routine when he began feeling
"un-naturally tired."
Rueffert, a newscaster and television food show personality
for ETC3, said he was at work one day in early July when he thought
he was having a heart attack.
"I tried driving myself to the hospital, but had to pull over
because I was blacking out and called 911. The 911 operator said,
'You're probably having a heart attack because of the [unfair way the
Food Network contest turned out]."
Rueffert said when the EMTs arrived, one of them suggested
his ailment might derive from being robbed by the judges and not
getting his own network cooking show.
And at the hospital a doctor also cited possible stress from
the competition as a likely culprit.
Unfortunately, being passed over in the final round of the
celebrity chef competition wasn't the problem.
A cancerous tumor was discovered in Rueffert's stomach on
July 11, the day before his 33rd birthday.
Rueffert left early Monday morning for M.D. Anderson Hospital
in Houston, Texas, which he described as the "Valhalla of cancer
treatment."
He said his likely treatment will include a partial
gastrectomy, followed by chemo-therapy.
The surgery will greatly hamper what and how much Rueffert
eats in his immediate future.
The irony that he is a television chef and his stomach is the
affected area is not lost on Rueffert.
"I'm a huge fan of irony" he said. "But for a television chef
to not be able to eat is ridiculous."
As part of his unique way of dealing with the situation,
Rueffert has established a blog (an internet website journal) where
he gives updates and in the face of an unpleasant situation, humorous
asides about his life and treatment.
"This is a very real thing I'm going through with un-fun
things," he said Friday in an interview. "To humorize it [for the
blog] makes it more tolerable."
Rueffert said he didn't start the postings as a "way to fish
for well wishers," but the support has been phenomenal in both the
numbers and its impact.
"It has given me inflated courage; it's courage that's not my
own," he said."To have a little cheerleading company is a nice thing
all the way around."
Rueffert cautioned anyone logging on to the site, he does not
write for general publication.
But he has found the web journal to be a great way to update
friends and those who know him mainly through television. Since
appearing on Food Network, his number of friends and supporters is
larger than he previously imagined.
"I received a ton of support during the Food Network
challenge, but nothing like this. There is nowhere better to live
than here. The community completely rallied behind me during the
contest," he said. "But that was trivial. Now that I have an illness,
I'm getting ten times more support."
Rueffert said the hospital in Houston told him to prepare for
a month-long stay, but since he's young and strong, he might be back
home within two or three weeks.
He said his time with the Food Network competition gave him
an increased drive and knowledge of cooking shows which he plans to
use at local cable station ETC3 as soon as possible.
Rueffert said he would like to publicly thank "all the
amazing and impressive people" who have sent cards or showed support
in other ways. "I want them to know, it has made it easier for me."
To access Rueffert's web journal go to:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/hansrue/