How Sylvester Pinckney’s cancer journey exemplified what he does best: investing in others
Sylvester Pinckney wants to leave a legacy.
Born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, Sylvester has been an employee of the city for 22 years, currently leading community engagement and partnerships. In addition to this role, he embeds himself in the community with the hope of making an impact.
“I’m part of 100 Black Men of Jacksonville, I’m a Mason, I’m part of a group called Flyjax, which is a social group,” Sylvester said. “I’m heavily involved with the community and trying to find ways to impact the community, especially our youth here in Jacksonville.”
This spirit of empowering others and making a difference especially came through during his journey with cancer.
Diagnosis and Cancer Journey
For years Sylvester had a small knot below his earlobe. His doctors were not concerned but continued to monitor it through his normal primary care visits. In July 2015, he went to his primary care doctor, and everything seemed normal.
Less than a month after his appointment, he noticed another knot under his armpit. His wife urged him to get it checked out, which led him to go back to the doctor, who then did diagnostic tests. The next day, he got a phone call from his doctor.
“I remember the news came that, ‘Hey, we think you have a form of cancer.’ It was like somebody hitting me in my belly,” Sylvester said. “It’s still feels like a shock when you say cancer. People look at it as a death sentence.”
Sylvester was diagnosed with stage 4 follicular lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, in September 2015. He was treated at Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center in Jacksonville, the second patient of the clinic after it opened its doors.
He underwent months of aggressive chemotherapy – a difficult period with intense hot flashes and fatigue. In February, it was determined that the chemotherapy was clearing some of the tumors, but another form of treatment was needed.
Sylvester moved his treatment to Mayo Clinic, where he received a bone marrow transplant using his own bone marrow. This was extremely successful, and he was deemed cancer-free for 6.5 years.
In 2022, his cancer unexpectedly returned. This time, there was a new hope, because of cancer research.
“When I relapsed, they told me medicine had changed 7-10 years,” Sylvester said.
That change was the introduction of CAR T-cell therapy, a process of removing T cells from the blood, training them to fight cancer cells in a lab, and then putting them back into the patient’s body. Sylvester said the engineered cells were described as “little assassins” targeting cancer cells.
Sylvester recovered well, surprising his doctors and nurses by doing push-ups in his hospital room. Today, his scans are clear and he’s proud to share his story to encourage others and highlight the importance of cancer research.
Sylvester’s Perseverance: Faith and Football
Throughout his cancer journeys, Sylvester leaned on his previous athletics experience and his faith.
“They were telling me all the side effects and I said, ‘I don’t need to hear that because my God has already gone before me, number one. And number two,’ I said, ‘I’m built different.’”
This unwavering belief started with Sylvester’s mindset, which he developed as an all-conference wide receiver in high school and a college athlete at Mississippi Valley State.
“The mind is powerful,” Sylvester said. “If the mind says it’s going to go into the fetal position, it’s going to go. But when the mind says, ‘I’m going to kick his butt,’ we are going to kick his butt.”
Empowering Others Through His Journey
A lifelong community servant, Sylvester didn’t let his cancer journey slow him from connecting with people. In fact, it provided new opportunities.
While in the hospital, Sylvester connected with a 21-year-old who was in a room near him. This patient had not been out of his room much while he was in the hospital. Sylvester invited him to take walks together, knowing how positive a change of scenery and physical activity can be physically and mentally uplifting. The two walked laps around the unit in deep conversation, kicking off a friendship.
Amid some of the darkest and most uncertain times in his life, Sylvester continued to invest in and empower others.
“Sometimes God uses our stories through the testimony to others to encourage others,” Sylvester said. “And I found out that through my process, through everything I went through, pretty much God said to me, ‘This is not even about you. This journey is not about you. It’s to encourage others.’”
Advocating for Advancements in Cancer Research
Sylvester’s story is a testament to cancer research, seeing firsthand how advancements and new therapies can change the game for patients.
“I always think back to how my grandmother died years ago with breast cancer,” Sylvester said. “I think about how today, all the medicine and research that we have now [could have] healed those [with cancer].”
“It’s very crucial that we continue funding those areas because it is needed. I look at it as direct impact. That’s direct change.”
The V Foundation funds innovative cancer research done by the best and brightest scientists in North America. Since 1993, the V Foundation has funded over $458 million in cancer research grants. With this investment, V Foundation-funded researchers have gone on to accelerate $22 billion in additional cancer research funding and be connected to 1,094 clinical trials.
Sylvester fondly remembers the words and passion of V Foundation founder Jim Valvano. “Coach V, his legacy is carrying on, is empowering others,” Sylvester said. “His voice is still ringing from that speech he did, empowering other people that are going through things.”
