Cambodia News (Phnom Penh): Long time American expat from New York, Joe Garrison, loses his fight with cancer.

Joe Garrison had been working in Phnom Penh as a photographer and was diagnosed with metastatic rectal cancer back in 2017.



Here is a recent post from him on social media warning others to make sure they get screened and take it seriously last month, as rectal cancer can be treated if addressed early:

'Hi folks! Hoping that this post finds every one of you healthy and happy with life and family. I need to ask your patience for a few minutes while I get up on a soapbox and preach to you all; well, at least all of you on my Friends list, anyway. I am not going to bore you with details (well, OK, I am going to, but hey, I am trying to save a life or two among you guys, so cut me some slack, dang it!!!), but I do hope to kick a bunch of you in the butt... literally.
Most of you should know by now that I am dying from cancer, but there is more to the story... I am dying from metastatic rectal cancer that spread from my rectum to my liver and to my chest lymph nodes. In other words, I am dying from a type of cancer that is usually fairly treatable - early stage rectal cancer - IF the warning signs are not ignored or even basically addressed; i.e. - I am dying likely years earlier than need be, if I had just literally pulled my head out of my ass and done something, rather than wish that scary, may-be-a-problem would just go away... Anyway, I digress... I could spend hours fessing up to the world some of the errors I have made, but the time for crying in my beer is well and truly past.
Anyway, like most cancers, mine started out quietly, and never gave me much troubles. Like many folks in this world, I have had hemorrhoids since I was a teenager. Besides literally being a pain in the butt, one other classic symptom is usually fairly small amounts of rectal bleeding. I have no idea of when my original cancer started growing, but I do know that folks without hemorrhoids almost always go to the doctors sooner, as the early signs of rectal cancer and hemorrhoids are very similar: anal pain, often accompanied by light bleeding.
So, long story short, I just chalked up any issues I was having to my hemorrhoids, and went on with life; until I just couldn't ignore the changes any more. The bleeding got heavier, and I developed another classics rectal cancer symptom: pencil stool. That is where the tumors reach the point that the stool has to squeeze out of a smaller hole, and your turds start to get longer and thinner as the exit hole fills up with the cancer tissue, and the toothpaste tube exit gets narrower. So I finally went to the doctors, and started along the path that my Big Adventure posts series covered in detail (all those posts are still up if anyone wants to read them - or even just morbid curiosity works!!!. The problem was, though, that I had waited too long, likely only a month or two too long, sadly, and the rectal cancer had already metastasized - sent out tiny little chunks that flow through I believe your lymph system until they attach well away from the original tumor site; that is how my original cancer tumors site near where my butt hole used to be, is the exact same cancer - just chunks that have broken off and migrated to my liver and to my chest wall lymph glands, where they are happily growing and oh-by-the-way - killing me.
So why am I telling you guys all this...??? Well that one is easy; two reasons, really: 1) If I had caught the original rectal cancer by doing the recommended annual or bi-annual colonoscopies for those of us over 50 yrs of age, the tumors would almost certainly have been caught long ago, back before they had metastasized and while they were were still much more easily treatable, and the treatment success rate is much higher; and 2) so that some of you that will need the info will already know some of the symptoms to be watching out for, and also so you know that those already living with hemorrhoids are aware that they can easily help you to discount very subtle changes - but those very subtle changes I missed are literally costing me the rest of my life... so pay attention, folks; you don't get any makeup tests in real life.
End of soapbox show for this evening... hoping life is grand for one and all!!'

May Joe rest in peace and condolences to all his friends and family.

Big post from Joe. It's not an easy subject, but if that post can get more people to get themselves checked out for cancer then it's done some good. Better know than not know. If you're not sure then check it out.

Condolences to his family and friends. I didn't know Joe but he sounds like a good guy who was concerned about other people. RIP .

Joe was a great guy and a friend.

Miss ya mate.

Yep,, My tests ready to be handed in today .

Such a shame. Joe will truly be missed.

RIP brave man,

and I can't stand the word 'fight' in the thread. Once metastasized it's no fight, it's fate.

RIP Joe. Condolences to his friends and Family. He sounded like a great guy. Gone much too soon.

Bio from the 2017 Go Fund me Page:

A little about Joe
Joe was born in Niagara Falls February 26, 1959 and grew up in western New York in the small farming town of Akron. He graduated (almost) in 1977 and left home for New Orleans where for two plus years he worked off shore on the oil rigs. He departed Louisiana on a Motorcycle adventure traveling across North America, landing in Oregon around 1980.

In Oregon, he began working in the wood products industry. Employed by Bohemia Lumber, he worked his way up from pulling green chain in the saw mills to Shift Foreman to earning a position in the Environmental Compliance organization of Bohemia in 1993. After the sale of Bohemia to Willamette Industries, Joe started full time at Oregon State University where he graduated with a BS in Environmental Science and Geology in 1996.

While living in Oregon Joe became involved in The Oregon Country Fair as a member of the Fire Crew. Many of us know him from there. And boy do we have some stories to tell. Most of which should not be transcribed on these pages. Many great friendships were fostered during this time at the fair and continue to this day. Mine only one of several.

Joe went on to work using his degrees running eco-risk assessment around the Western US and was an environmental consultant for a plant test laboratory in the Corvallis area. This led to an opportunity to work overseas as an onsite project manager for an eco-risk assessment at a large copper-gold mining company in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. During this time, he traveled extensively around Asia and when the project finished he started his graduate studies in Tasmania, Australia.

Joe landed in Cambodia in 2002 and as he describes it, “Loved the country and culture, and loved the Wild West feel of a country coming back after being set back 50 years by the Khmer Rouge era following the Vietnam War. It felt like a place full of adventure and potential opportunity.”

He began a new career working as a field Biologist and Photographer for the Mekong River Commission and as a contract Photographer. The latter he excelled at. His many works were published including a book, The Living Mekong , co-published with The World Wildlife Fund. He has since had a fairly successful freelance photography business around SE Asia while basing in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

It’s during this time in Cambodia that he met a wonderful lady named Nguyen Thi Hoang, nicknamed Wan. One of the incredible gifts that came out of their relationship was the adoption of a little girl named Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen, nicknamed Hogan Mi (means Hoang’s daughter). She is now a 10.5 year-old beautiful, intelligent little girl attending international school in Phnom Phen, and means the world to Joe.

Likely possible you could support his family by purchasing his book.