Victory Has New Meaning For Cancer Survivor Turnbow

JUPITER, FLORIDA | There have been two moments when Whit Turnbow thought his life was over. They came 10 days apart.

The first was a freak accident on Feb. 27, 2016. Turnbow and a few friends were flying back from the Daytona 500 when the main door to their private jet slowly came ajar. With the aircraft at 30,000 feet, everyone on board quickly reached for their oxygen masks. For the next six minutes, the pilots guided the plane down to 10,000 feet where they could turn the AC vents on to help reduce cabin pressure. Somewhat miraculously, they landed safely.

Ten days later, his luck turned even worse.

Four months earlier during a trip to the Bahamas, Turnbow had noticed a numb feeling in his face, a sign that led doctors to discover what they believed was a benign cyst. However, after a six-hour operation to remove it, Turnbow awoke to find out he had skin cancer in the form of a malignant tumor attached to the maxillary nerve just below his left eye.

“For the next few days, I was almost angry, yelling out to God that thi...