Special focuses on cancer patient

A Biography channel special on Wednesday looks at the lives of a Durham police officer and his family as he battles terminal cancer.

The one-hour documentary "Six Months" tells two stories of cancer patients fighting tough odds, one of whom is Wake Forest resident Eric Hoagland, a Durham police officer for nine years following more than a decade of Navy service.

The 33-year-old Hoagland is a big, strong man, and he takes a fighter's attitude to his struggle with metastatic chondrosarcoma. Hoagland was diagnosed at Duke University Medical Center two years ago when he discovered a bump in his leg.

He had guessed it was an overdeveloped muscle in his leg, but it was a tumor, and the cancer soon spread to his right bicep, then his lungs, right kidney, intestines and pelvic region.

"Eric is dying of his illness," says cancer and palliative care doctor Amy Abernethy in one interview segment. "He's not dying of it right now."

Hoagland uses the time he has left to reconcile with his estranged brother Michael, and prepare a tangible legacy for his 21/2-year-old daughter Caitlin by restoring his beloved 1986 Mustang as a gift for her when she turns 16. The crew at Augie's Art Works in Raleigh donates help for the project.

Hoagland and a friend also build a backyard playground for Caitlin, and he tries to remain as active as possible.

Fighting, says Abernethy, is "the natural language for him, because it gives him the sense that he can control things." She and other doctors are amazed at how long he has lived.

Hoagland's perfect ally is his equally tough wife, Tina, a Wake County sheriff's deputy and expert on Eric's medicine doses. Woe be unto the nurse who screws up.

Tina admits in an interview segment that she's a river of tears inside, but she won't let Eric see it.

"He has to stay positive," she reasons.

The couple's stay-positive attitude is tested in spring 2006, when Eric collapses during a routine treatment, and a CT scan reveals two tumors in his brain. He's going to require immediate surgery, to buy a little more time.

"I've got too much to live for. I've got my little girl up there," he tells a patient advocate shortly before surgery, fighting back tears as he looks at a photo of Caitlin on the wall.

Reached by phone at his home, more than a year after the brain surgery, Eric Hoagland sounds tired. Biography publicist Emily Spitale says he's very sick right now.

"I'm hanging in there, best I can," he says. He even expresses annoyance over being "forced" into retirement from the Durham Police in July.

He says one reason he agreed to participate in the program is that he wanted something else for his daughter.

"At the time, my daughter was only 2, almost 3, and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to be here up until now," he says. "I kind of wanted to leave something behind for her -- just let her know what her dad stood for."

"Six Months" airs at 11 p.m. Wednesday on Biography (in Raleigh, Time Warner Cable channel 117, DirecTV channel 266, and Dish Network channel 119) with an encore presentation at 1 p.m. Dec. 15.