Flower Mound will screen every firefighter for cancer after the Town Council approved $27,000 for advanced blood tests.

The money covers Cancerguard multi-cancer early detection tests for 41 department members ages 27 to 40. Each test costs $650, according to Fire Chief Paul Henley, as the North Texas Sun reported. The council shifted the funds from new municipal court expenses during an August work session.

The funding goes beyond what state law requires. The Wade Cannon Act (House Bill 198), authored by State Rep. Ben Bumgarner and effective June 1, 2026, mandates cost-free occupational cancer screening for firefighters starting in their fifth year on the job, and once every three years after. Flower Mound's allocation ensures every firefighter receives an advanced screening every three years, regardless of tenure.

The law bears the name of Wade Cannon, a Flower Mound firefighter diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer in 2020. Cannon urged colleagues to get tested. Two were subsequently diagnosed with colon cancer. He died Oct. 1, 2022. He was 33.

James Bobbitt, another Flower Mound firefighter, died in December 2024 from esophageal cancer the same year he was diagnosed. He was 50 and had served since 2007.

The department has spent $138,000 on cancer testing in total. Henley moved $30,000 within his own budget in 2025 to buy Cancerguard tests for all firefighters over 40. The town provided $68,000 in 2024 for health physicals that included bloodwork and a CT scan.

The department originally requested $79,200 for additional Cancerguard tests. Town staff did not include that amount in the proposed budget. Council members said they wanted to fund more testing but had to find the money in a year when sales tax revenue is down.

"I don't want to raise the tax rate, so we would have to take from something and give it to that," Mayor Pro Tem Adam Schiestel said.

Assistant Fire Chief Jerry Duffield, 62, knows the stakes firsthand. His blood was drawn in fall 2025 as part of the screening push. Abnormal PSA levels led to a biopsy that showed cancer on 6 of 12 panels.

A colonoscopy found three pre-cancerous polyps. Duffield had his prostate removed in June and returned to work weeks later.

"This testing, it works," Duffield said.

The department has also replaced cloth seats with wipeable materials in its vehicles, installed air filtration devices and required firefighters to clean gear after calls.

Sam Thrash, president of the Flower Mound Professional Firefighters Association, is pushing the state to add esophageal cancer to the list of 11 presumptive cancers that qualify Texas firefighters for workers' compensation. Cannon's colon cancer was considered presumptive. Bobbitt's was not.