He talks about how the radiation that targeted the cancer in his mouth has left his lower face severely disfigured, and how doctors had to graft parts of his pectoral and leg muscles onto his neck and face where his lower jaw used to be.
About how using spit tobacco can affect not only an individual, but friends and family as well.
Thursday morning, Von Behrens spoke to students in Clinton, and in the afternoon, he told his story at the Missoula City-County Health Department to an audience of about 20 officials, professionals and citizens.
In Montana, the use of spit tobacco is higher than the national average - especially among young males.
The notion that smokeless tobacco is less harmful or addictive is false, Von Behrens said. Each pinch of chewing tobacco held in the mouth for 30 minutes releases as much nicotine as three to four cigarettes.
Twelve percent of the adult male population in Montana uses spit tobacco; the national average is 8 percent, according to figures from Tobacco-Free Montana. The number of spit tobacco users jumps to 23 percent among male high school students ages 14-18 in Montana, compared with 9.9 percent for males nationally.
For Von Behrens, the ravages caused by his spit tobacco habit began as a white knot on his tongue that would slowly cause it to split. Later, half of his tongue would have to be removed. He said he knew then that he had cancer, yet still used tobacco.
When he was 17 years old, the avid baseball player was diagnosed with oral cancer. Two years later, he would have to have all of his teeth pulled because they were beginning to rot.
The total cost of the medical treatments was somewhere between $2.5 million and $3 million, and insurance only covers some of that, Von Behrens said.
“Insurance companies are a whole 'nother speech,” he said. “It is hard for someone like me to get insurance.”
In addition to speaking with youths, Von Behrens talks to professional athletes about their tobacco addictions and spends time with lawmakers to increase spit tobacco awareness.
“Another reason I go out is to make kids realize they are being drawn in,” he said.
New smoking regulations, which limit or abolish public smoking, have allowed tobacco companies to market smokeless tobacco as a solution. And those marketing campaigns often target younger people, Von Behrens said.
“They don't target a 35-year-old smoker, who they know is already addicted,” he said. “They target the youth, where they have a customer for life.”
In the audience at the health department sat two Hellgate High School students: sophomore Trevor St. John and junior Kelsey Brewer, both spit tobacco users. St. John, who began using chew when he was 13 years old, said he averages a can of chew a day. Brewer said he goes through about two cans a week.
“It doesn't make me want to put a chew in right now,” St. John said. “It puts a face on what chewin' does to you.”
And that's what Von Behrens' goal is.
“The choices they make right now, affect the rest of their life,” he said.
Jacob Livingston is a journalism student at the University of Montana and a reporting intern at the Missoulian. He can be reached at (406) 523-5240
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