Rick Bender was about 12 years old when he started chewing tobacco.

He was a baseball player who went on to play low-level professional ball. Back then, chewing tobacco was part of the game, something he saw all the players he idolized doing.

Cancer was the last thing he thought about when he started "dipping."

But by the time he was 26 years old, Bender had a lesion on his tongue that turned out to be oral cancer. He went in for what he thought was going to be a routine two-hour surgery.

By the time Bender came out of the operating room 12 hours later, his doctor told Bender's then wife he would be lucky to live another two years.

"They ended up having to take a third of my tongue," Bender said. "They chased (the cancer) all the way down to my neck and removed lymph glands."

Nerve damage from the surgery caused partial loss of the use of his right arm. Eventually, after two years and more surgeries from secondary complications, Bender lost the right side of his jaw.

Bender, now 46, believes he got a second chance for a reason, and he's devoted his life to traveling around the country telling his story to young people.

Bender was in the Helena area Monday kicking off the Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program's Through with Chew Week. He spoke before an assembly of 400 Townsend middle and high school students, before giving talks at the Carroll College student union and for Montana servicemen and women at Fort Harrison.

"I want to give (young people) information so they can ultimately make a better choice (about using tobacco)," Bender said. "Or at least an educated choice. They ultimately make that decision and as long as they've got the tools to make that choice, they'll probably make a good choice."

Bender said he's heard from many people over the years who have been inspired by his message. Recently, a girl from Chester told him that no one in her high school class used tobacco products after his visit there.

According to Gail Beckner, Tobacco Use Prevention Specialist for the Lewis and Clark County Tobacco Use Prevention Program, spit tobacco use is about twice as common in Montana as it is in the rest of the country, and about 40 percent higher among high school boys. Beckner attributes that partly to advertising of tobacco products at rodeos and the general image tobacco companies have cultivated of cowboys using spit tobacco.

Beckner added that she thinks there's still a misconception that spit tobacco is not as unhealthy as smoking.

"I think people typically associate smoking with lung disease and they see spit tobacco as a safe alternative," she said. "But it's not less harmful. There are other forms of cancer (chewing tobacco causes), and spit tobacco is much more addictive."

Bender said the one message he hopes resonates in people is that, no matter what your age, the day you start using tobacco you put yourself at risk.

"If they walk out of here with that, that's good," he said. "Do you need to use more than me? Maybe. Maybe you need to use less.

"I just want to give them something else to chew on," he said, adding, "that pun was intended."

Click here to visit the Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program site.

Joe Menden: 447-4087 or joe.menden@helenair.com