The longtime Orange County resident may ride his bike to the beach and have coffee while watching the surfers. Or he’ll work on his to-do list for the Devil Pups, a youth development program at Camp Pendleton which has been a passion of his for more than 20 years.
“I am living my life and enjoying my life,” he said. “I'm not content just sitting around.”
No matter how busy his schedule, Mincarelli makes time to recommend City of Hope to veterans seeking cancer care. “There are a lot of older vets in Orange County. You see them around town wearing their hats, and they enjoy striking up a conversation about the military. More than a few times, it turns out that cancer is something we have in common.”
It doesn’t surprise the retired sergeant, 76, that many of the veterans he meets have cancer. More than 450,000 veterans are receiving cancer care at a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital or institution, and nearly 50,000 cases of cancer are reported in the VA’s cancer registry each year.
The VA is an invaluable resource for veterans, Mincarelli said, but he firmly believes a cancer diagnosis deserves a cancer-focused specialist — preferably a team of specialists, like the lymphoma team caring for him at City of Hope Orange County Lennar Foundation Cancer Center, the most advanced comprehensive cancer center in Orange County.
“It’s better to detect and treat cancer early,” Mincarelli said. “And to do those things at the highest level, City of Hope is where you need to be, because cancer is their entire focus.”
Bravery and blood cancer
Mincarelli served as an artilleryman in the Vietnam War and fought in numerous combat operations, including the Battle of Khe Sanh. Critically injured by shrapnel, Mincarelli was awarded a Purple Heart in 1968.
After Mincarelli retired from the military, he taught at Long Beach City College and eventually opened an advertising agency. Devoting time to veterans charity and service organizations has always been a big part of his life.
When Mincarelli was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2020, he called a physician friend and asked for advice. “He said, ‘Find yourself a specialist, somebody who has done a thousand lymphoma cases,’” Mincarelli recalled. “So that’s what I did. I made the call to City of Hope.”
There are dozens of related lymphoma types, and they appear and act differently in the body. This makes it crucially important for patients to have a hematologist-oncologist with specialized expertise in lymphoma diagnosis and treatment.
“I met with Tanya Siddiqi, M.D., and from then on I’ve known City of Hope was my place for advanced cancer care,” Mincarelli said. Siddiqi, a renowned blood cancer expert, is the medical director of lymphoma at City of Hope Orange County and the director of the chronic lymphocytic leukemia program at City of Hope’s Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center. She is part of a City of Hope team bringing new hope to patients with blood cancers and leading pioneering research in the field.
“Every patient is special, and everyone at City of Hope treats you like that,” Mincarelli said. “I walk in, and everyone says ‘Hello, how are you doing today?’ It’s experiences like that that make a difference to a person with cancer. It makes you feel good because you know they see you as an individual and are 100 percent here for you.”
Mincarelli recently enrolled in a clinical trial at City of Hope studying an investigational drug, and he is optimistic for positive results. He also finds benefit in meditation and plans to sign up for a meditation class offered through City of Hope’s first-of-its-kind national integrative oncology program.
“I try to embrace the good things in my life and the good surroundings that I have, the good people that I have, and City of Hope is all of those things to me,” Mincarelli said. “I will say that a good attitude goes a long way in facing cancer diagnosis. You have to work at it, and with the right doctors and the right treatment, you will get through it.”
To those who served and now face a different type of fight, Mincarelli says: “I salute all veterans that come through the doors at City of Hope Orange County. City of Hope is here for veterans with cancer, a place where cures are possible and Hope and healing reside. Stay strong!”
Top: Sgt. Tim Mincarelli, Khe Sanh, 1968
Also read: Grateful lymphoma survivor rounds the curves of cancer at City of Hope Orange County
Also read: City of Hope clinical trial brightens the path for Orange County fire cadet with lymphoma
Hope is where cancer loses and life wins. To make an appointment at any of City of Hope’s Orange County locations, call 888-333-HOPE (4673).