PHIL UPDATE
Yooper Icon Phil from Phil's 550 faces serious diagnosis
MARQUETTE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WLUC) -- Phil Pearce, the 63-year-old owner of Phil's 550, began noticing some changes last fall.
Doctors diagnosed Phil Pearce of Phil's 550 with glioblastoma, a malignant, fast-growing brain cancer.
"One day I just didn't feel well and my balance was a little bit off, and just kind of brushed it aside," he said. "Then things started to feel worse, so I decided I needed to go to the hospital."
Doctors diagnosed Phil with glioblastoma, a malignant, fast-growing brain cancer. They said he had about 18 months to live.
"My last reaction was kind of shock, I guess," said Deb Pearce, Phil's wife. "It's hard to believe. You hear about it with other people."
Phil had surgery Jan. 1 to remove part of the tumor, and spent a few weeks recovering.
But Phil's 550 isn't the same without Phil and his famous Yooper personality. Phil has been the subject of books, short movies, and most recently, a Detroit Free Press feature. People wear a t-shirt plastered with his face around the world. So as soon as he could, he began working again.
"And when he came home from that, he was just smiling and he was happy," Deb said. "He spent time with his customers and he was obviously in the right place."
Now Phil is working every day in the store, a U.P. landmark itself. Soon, he'll start radiation and chemotherapy. He said he was keeping a positive outlook.
"Well, you take each step at a time, you know, he said. "There's a lot of people that have got things off a lot worse than I do, so I'm just going forward with one step at a time."
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