theeagle.com, Bryan-College Station, Texas

By MAGGIE KIELY

For most people, spending a week in a hospital undergoing chemotherapy sounds miserable.

But Roy Gene Munse, co-host of the Morning Show on KORA-FM and a 30-year veteran at the station, has a different perspective. He said he'll be using the time to finish some things he's been meaning to get to on the computer.

Munse was diagnosed with liver disease more than five years ago and has been battling it with medications ever since.

A year of trial and error with different medicines didn't seem to be improving his condition much, he said, and doctors suggested he consider a liver transplant.

But according to a score that measures the severity of an ill liver, Munse said he was told his liver wasn't bad enough to be on the transplant list.

Over the past three years he's been waiting for his liver to digress enough to get him on the transplant list, he said.

In the meantime, tumors began growing on his liver, and a couple of weeks ago, doctors declared them to be cancerous, he said. As a result, his liver is too bad to place him on the transplant list.

So on Monday, Munse will start a week's worth of chemotherapy treatments to shrink the tumors on his liver. If the treatment is successful, he'll be moved to the top of the liver transplant list in Texas, he said.

Munse said he's at peace with the situation right now and hasn't been in a lot of pain lately.

"Strangely, I feel calm and content," he said. "I have a bigger support system than I've ever dreamed of, and I figured that out this week."

One pillar in that support system is Roger Garrett, Munse's co-host on the KORA-FM Morning Show.

The two met in 2004 and have been cracking jokes together ever since, Garrett said.

"One thing about being a team on the radio is you've got to have a certain chemistry," he said. "It doesn't work for a lot of people, but it works for Roy and me, and I think that's because we have a similar outlook on a lot of stuff, but our opinions are vastly different."

Munse is the type of person who will help you out when you don't even realize you need help, Garrett said. Watching his friend suffer from health problems has been painful, he said.

"It has been very difficult to see someone who's been such a friend lose the ability to be himself," he said. "But he's not morbid or depressed about it, and if he is depressed he doesn't show it. He doesn't want other people to be sad toward him."

This is no time for a self-pity party, Munse said.

"I don't want to go around looking at my shoes thinking, 'Poor, poor me,'" he said. "I'm the kind of person that would rather not have to ask anybody for help. I'd sooner drop a box on my foot than have somebody pick up the other end of it."

Munse pokes fun at his tumors and his health problems on a recent blog post at rogerandroymorningshow.blogspot.com.

Using humor to cope with life has always been his strategy, he said.

But something he won't joke about is the fact that if he is lucky enough to receive a transplant, his new chance at life means someone else had to give up theirs.

Munse has been an organ donor for several years, but his recent experiences have gave him a new perspective on how important donors are.

Pam Silvestri, a spokeswoman for Southwest Transplant Alliance -- an organ donation organization in Texas -- said she expects Texas to have a million registered donors by August, but more work will still need to be done.

"A lot of other states already have several people registered," she said. "The good news is we're one of the fastest-growing registries right now, but that's because we had nowhere to go but up."

More than 10,000 Texans are waiting on an organ transplant, she said.

To become an organ donor or for more information, visit donatelifetexas.org.

Munse said he hopes to update his blog during his treatment next week and encourages anyone who is interested to visit.