Childhood friends reunite during cancer treatments 50 years after serving in Tennessee National Guard together

A pair of childhood classmates who served together in the Tennessee National Guard reconnected during their cancer treatments nearly 50 years after they fell out of touch.

Billy Taylor, a two-time cancer survivor, wasn’t entirely surprised when he found himself back at the Sarah Cannon Cancer Center at TriStar Natchez in Dickson, Tennessee, for yet another round of radiation, WSMV 4 reported.

At the same time, Randy Duke was riding his motorcycle to the same center for daily radiation and chemotherapy treatments as he fights an aggressive throat cancer.

For weeks, neither knew that they were incidentally crossing paths with an old friend.

Duke and Taylor attended school together in White Bluff, Tennessee — just 10 miles outside of Dickson — and were in the same training unit in the Volunteer State’s National Guard.

They lost contact in 1979 when Taylor left the guard to pursue his own business, and figured that was the end of things.

Taylor recognized Duke’s name immediately when he heard a nurse call for him while they were both in the waiting room at the center. Physically, though, Duke looked like a stranger — and vice versa.

“I didn’t know for sure that was him because we changed so much. I wouldn’t have known him if I hadn’t heard his name. I would have never guessed in a million years who he was,” Taylor told WSMV 4.

Taylor didn’t say anything until he got a closer look at Duke in the parking lot three days later.

“Drake, is that you?” Taylor recounted shouting at Duke.

Duke always went by his middle name, Drake, in school because there were so many other students named Randy.

“Oh my goodness, yeah. I can see it now, Billy Ray, and I was glad to see him,” Duke remembered replying while Taylor reintroduced himself.

The pair have been inseparable ever since. They spent hours catching up and reflecting on “all the crazy stuff” they did in the Guard — effectively filling a gaping hole in Duke’s life.

When Duke first started his cancer treatments, he knew it would be difficult, but he told the outlet that the lack of real connection was even harder.

“We used to know everybody in White Bluff. Now, we don’t hardly know anybody. We go to a restaurant and I’m searching for somebody I know up there,” he said.

Now, he and Taylor are leaving for their morning appointments a little earlier so they can carve out extra time to chat in the waiting room.

“We could sit out there and talk. It got our mind off things too. It was just a good feeling to see him again. You don’t see many people that you’ve not seen in 48 years,” Taylor told the outlet.

“As you get older, you’ve got less and less time to meet them. So, it might be a good time to do it,” Duke added.

When Taylor completed his treatments, he rang the center’s chemo bell with Duke by his side. Taylor said he plans to do the same for Duke when he finishes his treatments in June.

Duke, meanwhile, is hoping to secure a part-time job with Taylor when he’s well enough so they can work side-by-side as they did in their youth.