HENDERSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — In the haze of months that have gone by since her husband died, Denise Dallenbach reflects on the legacy he left behind and the change his death has inspired.
"Um well I felt relieved for the guys that are still here," said Dallenbach.
For over three decades her husband, Don Dallenbach, dedicated his career to the Hendersonville Fire Department. Through scenes of soot, smoke, debris, and fire, he showed up in Hendersonville.
"Especially in the fire service, there are so many different things they are exposed to," said Dallenbach.
The Dallenbach family found out Don had pancreatic cancer 58 days before he died in early January. Hendersonville Fire Chief Scotty Bush spent the last weeks and days of Don's life with him.
"Don was really wanting us to hyper focus on adding these cancers to the legislation, the already existing Barry Brady Act," said Bush. "As you know pancreatic is one of the most deadly cancers."
Bush said the very outfits they wear increase cancer risks. Since Don's death, the Hendersonville Fire Department, the local firefighter union and state organizations fought for state coverage of three types of cancer for firefighters.
"74 percent of the deaths last year in 2023 in the fire service were related to cancer," said Bush.
About a week ago, legislators added pancreatic, breast and prostate cancer to the Barry Brady Act, which covers firefighters for conditions or injuries. The additional cancer types will go into effect on July 1.
Denise said their work might give another family in Tennessee more time.
"They didn't let up at all. Scotty was at every meeting, every time the doors were open he was there," said Dallenbach.
Don also advocated for individual fire departments to provide more cancer screenings and push for awareness. The Hendersonville Fire Department continues to work on those efforts.
"There is always somebody here that is willing to lend a hand weekends, holidays and my job is to make sure they are as healthy as they can to do that," said Dallenbach. "Maybe if we would have had screenings and scannings at a particulate time maybe we would have caught it at an earlier stage."
Denise said she's grateful for the effort the department continues to do.
"These are our husbands and our kids' fathers. We give them up every 24 hours to serve their community, and it is a small price to pay to bring them home to us," said Dallenbach. "They need to get those screenings as often as they can. "Something as simple as a blood test could have told us earlier and I don't know if it could have done anything with his cancer, his cancer was widespread by the time we found it but we may have had a little bit more time
Do you know a firefighter affected by occupational cancer? Share your story to help raise awareness about the risks first responders face. Contact reporter Kim Rafferty directly at kim.rafferty@NewsChannel5.com.
This story was reported by me and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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