Cancer Survivor Randy Schmitz Says Hot Sauce Challenge Saved His Life

A cancer survivor claims that after participating in a hot sauce challenge in South Carolina, it saved his life.

While on vacation with his fiancé in South Carolina, Randy Schmitz — of Orland Park, Illinois — stumbled upon a place called the Pepper Palace, where they were asking people to participate in a hot sauce challenge.

Apparently, their hot sauce was supposed to be one of the hottest in the world. From that information alone, Schmitz knew he was putting his health at risk. But the risk-taker decided to give it a try.

“It was pretty darn hot, but since I didn’t have a huge amount of it, I got over it in a few minutes. My sister was about to take the challenge and sign her name too. I told her to wait cause I wasn’t feeling so well,” Schmitz stated.

He continued as follows.

“I’ve done some other challenges in the past — this was possibly the worst one. I made it the five minutes. My sister then said she wanted to take the challenge, but I said, ‘You might want to hold off, I’m feeling really sick.’ “

After consuming the hot sauce, Schmitz began to feel ill so he step outside to get some fresh air where he began to “twitch and shake violently,” according to his mother.

“My head was feeling really off,” he added. “Next thing I know, I wake up in a stretcher in a hospital hallway covered in vomit and I had no clue what had happened.”

Once he reached a nearby hospital, doctors discovered that his bad reaction to the hot sauce was due to a cancerous brain tumor. Once he went back home to Illinois, doctors were able to remove it.

He’s now claiming that if it wasn’t for the hot sauce challenge, he wouldn’t have known he had a cancerous brain tumor, and that it saved his life.

“The doctors did not know how long the cancerous tumor had been there and they said if it did not get activated, it would have just kept growing and expanding. I had surgery, got the tumor removed, went on radiation and chemotherapy, and I am now cancer free! Your Flashbang Pepper Sauce saved my life!”

The founder and CEO of Pepper Palace Inc., Craig Migawa, heard about Schmitz’ story and decided to release a statement.

She stated as follows.

“We are honored to have been a part of this story and we are humbled to know something as simple as a hot sauce can make such a difference.”

Did any condiments or foods save your life? Feel free to share your story.

[Image courtesy of ABC 14]