EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — After years of documenting cancer’s toll on the Paso del Norte region, Texas Tech Health El Paso senior writer Dr. Paul Vieira is now confronting the disease himself — an experience he said has changed how he understands what patients endure and why expanded cancer care in El Paso could be life-changing.

“I’m now the one wearing the, I have to wear the gown,” Vieira said. “I’m the one who’s being strapped to a table for radiation sessions and then hooked up to infusion.”

Vieira spent years researching the history of cancer in the Borderland as part of his work at Texas Tech Health El Paso, writing about patients, doctors and efforts to improve cancer care. He said he never expected to become part of that story.

“Who knew that after three years, after doing that research, that I would become a part of the story and that I would find myself with cancer,” Vieira said.

Vieira said his symptoms began with what seemed like a simple earache, followed by a lump on his neck. After weeks of testing and the discovery of a mass at the base of his tongue, he said doctors diagnosed him with HPV positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

“It’s a very different perspective,” Vieira said. “That’s why I call it a journey because I’m now walking in their shoes.” He added, “My life is turning very complex science into stories that people can use.”

He said the experience has shown him the reality many El Paso cancer patients face, and it has led him to document his own diagnosis, chemoradiation and road to survival in a Substack narrative series called “A Journey Here.”

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“Well, now I’m a part of that story, and I want to share that with others so that they have a better understanding of what this cancer journey is really like,” Vieira said. “We live in an area that has a cancer gap.”

Vieira said his treatment requires visits to six different clinics across the city, with each location providing a different part of his care. He said that is why he believes the new Fox Cancer Center could make a difference for patients by consolidating services.

Announced in 2025, the project is backed by more than $130 million from the Texas Legislature, a $25 million donation from the Fox family, and a $5 million grant from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation.

“It’s not going fast enough,” Vieira said. He said the center will improve access once it opens: “It will be much more convenient for families to be able to go to one integrated healthcare facility, our Hope campus when it opens, and to have everything under one roof.”

Vieira is also using his diagnosis to speak out about prevention. He said his throat cancer is linked to HPV, a common virus that can also cause cervical and several other types of cancer, and that vaccination can prevent many cases.

“So I strongly advocate for all young adults, male and female, to receive an HPV vaccine so they don’t have to go through what I’m going through,” Vieira said. “It’s easily preventable and I can’t encourage people enough to receive that vaccine.”

Now in his fourth week of treatment, Vieira said the exhaustion is growing, but so is his resolve.

“So I just have to live day by day,” he said. “And I think that that’s the best advice I can give anybody is you live the day you’re in. Don’t worry about tomorrow.”

The Fox Cancer Center is expected to be completed in less than three years. Vieira said he hopes sharing his story helps others find hope, seek treatment early, and remember they do not have to face cancer alone.

El Paso health writer Dr. Paul Vieira documents his own cancer fight in new series

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