Cancer patient loved by many at Huntsman Cancer Institute, dies


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His name is Dov Siporin. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he decided to “laugh” at cancer. He said it made him feel better. According to his oncologist, Dr. John Weis, his attitude rubbed off on many others, patients and caregivers alike.

“Each one of them adored him. Each one of them knew him well. He made himself available to all of them. I saw somebody this morning who broke into tears when she found out he died,” Weis said Friday.

Weis treated Siporin’s rectal and liver cancer for the past 7½ years. Weis has had many patients during his career, but nobody quite like Siporin.

“The only patient I’ve ever had to sit on my lap in a diaper,” Weis laughed.

Siporin was a prankster. He went through many surgeries and thousands of hours of chemotherapy and radiation. Every time he came to the hospital for another treatment, no one was quite sure what kind of joke he’d pull. But everyone looked forward to finding out.

“I have had very humorous patients who would play small tricks and pranks, but Dov took it to a whole new level, in a very fun, good way,” said Cassidy Doucette, a GI nurse who helped treat Siporin for the past five years. “Every time that we saw him, he was in a Mickey Mouse costume, or had something funny written on his bottom!”


He was just kind of the spirit of Huntsman. Wherever he was, you knew he was here. If he came into a waiting room, no one was a stranger. He would talk to them, ask them what they were experiencing. I've never seen anybody who was so comfortable fighting the battle that he fought.

–Pam Lane, an outpatient services specialist


“He was just kind of the spirit of Huntsman,” said Pam Lane, an outpatient services specialist there. “Wherever he was, you knew he was here. If he came into a waiting room, no one was a stranger. He would talk to them, ask them what they were experiencing. I’ve never seen anybody who was so comfortable fighting the battle that he fought,” Lane said.

Last May, on his 40th birthday, Siporin, dressed in a cow suit, and a bunch of his friends passed out cupcakes to cancer patients and staff members. He always had treats, it seemed. He explained that day why it was important for him to visit the hospital often.

“I know that every time that if my day is going rough, and if I’m feeling really sorry for myself, I come here, I go around talk with some other patients and we chat about how our lives are going and by some miracle I go away from that stronger.”

For many of the staff members at Huntsman, the mood was bittersweet after hearing of his death. They were sad that he passed away, but also glad that they had the opportunity to know someone who could change the mood of so many, by his energy, passion and concern.

“Cancer is a very incredibly scary thing,” Doucette said. “And to have any type of indication that it’s still OK to smile, that it’s OK to still laugh, you can take a deep breath. It is a serious matter, but you don’t have to be serious about it 24/7. That was a relief for patients and staff. We had had a piece of that, but Dov accelerated it.”

Lane was a cancer patient herself at Huntsman. When she first began her treatment for colon cancer, it was Siporin who became her mentor.

“I was like any other patient. I was scared to death. He would follow me around and tell me what was going to go on, and if I’d see him in the hall, he would stop me and say ‘how you doing, how you doing?" Lane said.

Siporin’s friends are now filling his Facebook page with messages, photos and videos. They’ve also created a GoFundMe page to help his family with medical bills.

He's a special man who will be missed. “Oh yeah he will. There’s no question he will,” said Weis. “There’s no question that his death has shaken many patients to their core. He was immortal to many people.”


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