Committed to 3 Little Words: ‘I Love You’

When Eric Bilow awoke in the intensive care unit at Moffitt Cancer Center following surgery in 2020, he noticed three things immediately. He felt the tracheostomy tube assisting his breathing and saw a feeding tube connected to his stomach. He also realized he had lost his ability speak. 

Deepa Danan, MD

Months earlier, Eric was diagnosed with oropharynx cancer. As part of a surgery that Moffitt head and neck surgeon Deepa Danan, MD, called “pretty radical,” surgeons removed part of Bilow’s epiglottis, which is a flap of tissue that covers the voice box when you swallow and directs food and liquids to the stomach rather than to the airway. 

“Once I was in there, I realized I was going to have to take a portion of his voice box and a very large portion of his throat,” Danan said. 

Danan used Eric’s left pectoralis muscle and chest skin to reconstruct the structure of his throat. It was a successful surgery, but the reconstructed epiglottis was not fully functional. 

Learning Sign Language

Eric spent the next two weeks in the hospital, healing and learning what he needed to do next to return to a normal routine. He was determined to get back home to his wife and his life in The Villages. Eventually, he was back in familiar surroundings, but still unable to say a word. 

“I learned sign language to help me communicate,” explained Eric, who also worked through physical therapy to recover from the surgery. “I did all that while wearing a feeding tube.” 

His wife, Debbie, stayed by his side throughout his recovery, even though she had a cancer diagnosis of her own. In 2020 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

The two would send text messages to each other since Eric couldn’t speak, even when they were both sitting on the same couch. Eric began working with a speech therapist in October 2020 while also learning American Sign Language. 

“I spent a lot of time in a room by myself where she couldn’t hear me, going over my speech therapy exercises,” Eric said. 

When he was confident in his ability to speak, he told his wife three words: “I love you.” 

“I was just stunned,” Debbie said. “I said, ‘What did you just say?’ I was emotional, for sure.” 

Cancer Journeys Intertwined

Once Eric was on the road to recovery from surgery, Debbie proceeded with her radiation treatments at Moffitt, and in November 2020, she was declared cancer-free.  

As Debbie celebrated her successful treatment, Eric was making progress. He was learning to feed himself through a permanent feeding tube. Without the ability to swallow, he must ingest liquid nutrition through a syringe and tube that connects directly to his stomach. 

Eric Bilow drove his 2023 Polaris Slingshot more than 14,000 miles to play disc golf in every lower 48 state. 

Today, both Bilows are cancer-free. In the summer of 2025, Eric took to the road to celebrate his three passions: cancer awareness, disc golfing and his 2023 Polaris Slingshot. 

With his nutritional supplements carefully packed in what little space he had in his Slingshot, and the rest strategically placed with friends across the country, Eric began his trip on a rainy May 12 with a goal to play a game of disc golf in every single one of the lower 48 states. 

He succeeded in his goal after tallying more than 14,000 miles in his Slingshot and an estimated 100 hours of disc golf during his trip. He reunited with his wife on July 4 in South Carolina before the two traveled back home to The Villages, after, of course, he told her he loved her again.