PARADISE — There may be other kilt-wearing Paradise bagpipers who are missing half a lung, but so far the only one that’s turned up is Jim McKasson, a Vietnam veteran who took up playing bagpipes some 18 years ago.
That turned out to have been a good choice of hobbies, in more ways than one.
In fact, playing bagpipes probably saved his life because, when he was diagnosed with lung cancer, he had to take a breathing test to measure his lung capacity. For most men in their early 60s, an 80 percent reading is the standard for that test, but McKasson blew a 98 percent, and that surely helped his recovery after the surgery that took half of one lung. His operation took place in April 2007, and McKasson’s recovery was swift enough to allow him to march and play in the Paradise Fourth of July parade just a few months later.
“We were mostly marching downhill,” he said modestly.
The number one song in every bagpiper’s repertoire is “Amazing Grace” and lots of people would find a connection between McKasson’s speedy recovery from lung cancer and the fact that he’s played that inspiring old hymn more times than he can possibly count.
via Cover story: Paradise bagpipe player echoes the highlands – Chico Enterprise Record.