After cancer battle, Gautier is dancing with a purpose (Video included)

Nate Gautier doesn't consider himself a star or a dancer, but next week he'll participate in Dancing with the Show Me Stars, a philanthropic event benefiting the Community Partnership of Southeast Missouri.

The show, which gets its name from "Dancing with the Stars," features local community "stars" partnered with dance instructors. The couples practice for 10 weeks leading up to the event and raise funds for the not-for-profit organization. The winner is selected based on the amount of money raised. Dollars raised equals votes received. As I write this column, Gautier and his dance instructor Shelia King are in second place, having raised more than $5,000.

"It's certainly nothing that I'm accustomed to," Gautier, an account executive with rustmedia, told me about dancing. "I didn't grow up dancing. Other than just what I perceived to be dancing, which I learned very quickly is not actual dancing. But I've enjoyed it. I've learned a lot in a very short amount of time."

Shelia King and Nate Gautier practice for Dancing with the Show Me Stars.Lucas Presson

Gautier and King will dance the tango, samba and hustle for a combined 2 minutes, 14 seconds -- a short amount of time, he says, for all the practice that goes into it.

The couple has practiced several times per week since June. King, a local business owner, participated in the event several years ago as a "star" and won. For the last two years, she's served as an instructor.

Gautier was at first apprehensive about participating, initially turning down the offer. But after encouragement from his wife, Kristen, and rustmedia creative director and manager, Jeff Rawson, he decided to go for it.

Now, he's happy to be dancing -- especially after all that he has endured in recent years.

In late 2018, he noticed a nodule on his testicle after a shower. Gautier, who was 28 at the time, in good health and training for a marathon, contacted his doctor. A specialist later determined he would need emergency surgery.

The verdict was embryonal carcinoma, a strand, Gautier said, only 1 to 2% of people with testicular cancer are diagnosed with having.

In January 2019, Gautier started an aggressive treatment that included 20 cycles of chemotherapy. He was sick with nausea, suffered with headaches, lost his hair and dealt with "loud screeching noises," a side effect from the detoxing and chemotherapy. With so much out of his control, it was his faith in God that provided an anchor of strength. He said it was the closest he ever felt to God.

When he turned 29, Jan. 14, 2019, Gautier asked his family and friends not to bring up his birthday. But on his 30th birthday earlier this year, after receiving a clean bill of health, he was overcome with gratitude.

"Most people are a little sad about their 30s," Gautier said as he fought back tears. "I was very thankful, because not everyone gets a second chance, and I don't take that lightly."

Gautier said his wife, an educator and basketball coach in the Jackson R-2 School District, played an important role in the process from drawing a bath for him in the morning, to helping him get out of bed, to providing general moral support.

"When you are relying on somebody else, your ego gets completely suffocated, because it's no longer about you," he said. "And that's what, really, cancer taught me is that life is about others and nothing is truly about me. Life is about God. It's about family. It's about having an intimate relationship with the people that you meet and being very present. I will always be thankful to God for giving me the opportunity to suffer so that I learned that lesson."

He's a big proponent of prevention and early detection.

"It's once a month, after a shower. Make sure you don't feel anything strange that you haven't felt before. Because it's something that can be taken care of if it's diagnosed early."

He referred to another man in Jackson also diagnosed with testicular cancer, and it ultimately spread to his brain.

"We're doing the exact same treatment, and he passes, and I live. I don't take things like that lightly. And so I just hope that people understand the message to tell your boys to pay attention, and that's OK to have those conversations."

Along with helping clients at rustmedia tell their story through products such as B Magazine, Flourish and Mind + Body magazines, among other products, Gautier hosts a monthly video interview called "Walks with Nate." The show features local individuals who take a walk with Gautier and tell their story, offering words of wisdom, hope and encouragement.

"They just come. They tell their story and what they're comfortable with," he said. "And we love getting to capture it and share it with others."

Ultimately, Gautier says it's important to enjoy every single day.

"I know before what happened, I would go through the day, and if something went poorly, I would just let that be like, 'Oh, it's gonna be a Monday. OK.' And now I have this kind of almost internal button I can push. It just goes, 'Hey, take a deep breath. Death is worse. What if this was your last day? How would you spend it?'"

It's an important viewpoint, knowing every day is a gift from God.

To learn more about Dancing with the Show Me Stars, purchase tickets to the event or donate to one of the participating couples, visit dancingwithshowmestars.com.

Lucas Presson is assistant publisher of the Southeast Missourian.