CAVE CREEK, Ariz. - "When it was the worst, it was a 10," Goodyear firefighter Austin Peck said about the level of pain he had felt over the last 16 months.
As Peck looked out over the hills surrounding his parents' Cave Creek home, he remembers when his life was a "10."
He married his high school sweetheart, Erin. They have two beautiful girls and he earned the job of his dreams -- as a full-time firefighter.
"Everybody's relying on you. It's their worst day and they need you," Peck said.
It was role he cherished, but around November 2015, Austin's family and friends barely recognized the handsome dad of two.
"It felt like my nose was broken, and it grew to three times the size, really wide," he explained.
Doctors operated, and confirmed their first suspicion -- cancer.
"It's called Sinonasal Undifferentiated Carcinoma," Peck said. Or, SNUC, and it's rare. Only about 400 people have had it, according to his doctors.
A cancerous tumor had been begun to grow in the sinus area behind his nose and was spreading fast. He did weeks of specialized radiation in Southern California, followed by additional chemotherapy. The treatments gave him plenty of time to think, "Why me? And why now?"
National and international research studies have shown that there's a direct link to various cancers and the work firefighters do.
"The carcinogens, the particulates, the toxins, the gases, and everything that surrounds us," Arizona State Rep. Paul Boyer (Dist. 20) said. He and Arizona State Rep. T.J. Shope (Dist. 8), heard from firefighters facing the other battle with cancer -- the cost of treatment.
Peck says despite testimony from his doctors affirming the connection between his cancer and his duties as a Goodyear firefighter as the source of his illness, his workman's compensation claim with the City of Goodyear's workman's comp carrier, Copperpoint Insurance, was denied.
While Peck continues with his appeal, he says he is doing the best he can to treat his cancer with available funds from his primary insurance. That, he said, has been very slow, and equally frustrating.
Representatives Shope and Boyer have two bills (HB 2161 & HB 2410) working their way through the Arizona Legislature that will update the presumptive cancer and cardiac statutes currently on the books. If the bills should pass, they want first responders to know, "You signed up for a job that is helping everybody,' Rep. Shope said. "You're bigger than just yourself, and we want to make sure you're taken care of if something happens to you."
Peck says he is incredibly humbled by all the support he and his family have received from around the Valley and the country.
If you want to help the Peck family, there is a fundraiser fish fry Saturday at the Buffalo Chip Saloon in Cave Creek. It starts at 2 p.m. and costs $20 for all you can eat.