I didn’t think much of it when my neck got sore during a hunting trip in November 2014. But after my wife, Vicky, pointed out that I had a swollen lymph node in the area where I was experiencing pain, she scheduled an appointment for me to see a doctor in our hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. 

When antibiotics didn’t help, I had a needle biopsy. My results came back negative, but my doctor urged me to have the node surgically...