Rock Hill firefighters sling barbecue to help one of their own

Chuck Mozingo would rather be battling fires alongside his colleagues out of Rock Hill Fire Station 1, taking his usual place on the truck on the way to save people and their homes and belongings from burning up entirely.

But Mozingo hasn’t been able to help protect his fellow citizens for much of the past year because he’s been fighting a different battle – against his own cancer.

On Friday, Rock Hill firefighters will hold a barbecue fundraiser at the Cherry Road station to help raise money to pay for Mozingo’s hefty medical bills.

“He’s a good friend to all of us, not only on A shift (Mozingo’s shift), but throughout the department,” said Capt. Mac Thomas.

Firefighters will hand out barbecue at the station, or run deliveries in addition to running calls, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday. But Mozingo might miss at least part of the proceedings. He has a doctor’s appointment that morning to confirm the latest test results that recently put him back on the job, at least for light duty.

Back in February, Mozingo was diagnosed with t-lymphoblastic lymphoma, a rare form of cancer for a man his age to develop. A mass in his chest led to rounds of hospitalization and chemotherapy, which compromised his immune system and led to struggles with infections, pneumonia and Bell’s palsy that caused partial paralysis in his face.

“I’ve been through IV treatments, six lumbar punctures, different (drug) cocktails,” said Mozingo, hanging out at the station break room for only the third week.

All those treatments have taken a toll on Mozingo’s wife and two sons, an 11-year-old at home and a 21-year-old attending Winthrop University. They also meant the Mozingo family took a financial hit, although the firefighter isn’t sure how much.

“In our household, my wife is behind the finances,” he said. “Just so I don’t have any worries about that.”

After his diagnosis, Mozingo used up his sick time and then was able to draw on the city’s “sick bank” to help out. When he did come back to the office or see his fellow firefighters – when they brought meals or cut his grass – he largely had to avoid people because of his compromised immune system.

Worse, at the same time he was in the hospital for his own cancer treatments, Mozingo’s mother died from colon cancer.

“2016 can’t get here fast enough for the Mozingos,” said Mike Jadwinski, Mozingo’s fire captain at Station 1.

After a PET scan last month, Mozingo finally got some good news: All the tests showed his treatments had worked.

“They said I was NED,” Mozingo said, “which is a good acronym for ‘no evidence of disease.’”

Now, firefighters hope to do one more thing for the family when they offer up their own eastern North Carolina vinegar-sauce barbecue, with a side of slaw, baked beans and a roll, for $8 a plate. A half-dozen of the department’s top chefs will be making the ’cue, and another 30 will be on hand to fix plates and distribute the orders.

Mozingo’s fellow firefighters are hopeful he’s now on his way to being back to his old self.

“He’s a Firefighter 2, which means he’s over the Firefighter 1s,” Jadwinski said. “Having that experience, on a call he’s kind of the lead person. Not having him there leaves a void. ... It will be a relief to get him back on that truck.”

“Chuck’s one of those guys who’s quiet, doesn’t make a big fuss, but he’s always ready to step in and help others,” Thomas said. “We can always count on him, so there’s no question we want to help him out any way we can.”

This story was originally published December 9, 2015 at 8:07 PM with the headline "Rock Hill firefighters sling barbecue to help one of their own."