Aaron Tinder: Staying busy and battling back
Professor Aaron Tinder working on a work of art
Aaron Tinder is a busy man. He divides his time between the art department at Grand View University, his band and his personal artwork.
He has been teaching full time at Grand View since 2004 and truly loves what he does. Tinder teaches painting and drawing and manages the art education program.
When he isn’t teaching, however, you might find him pursuing his love for music while playing bass in his band, Monday Mourners.
Tinder has been involved with music his whole life. He studied music a bit in college before he switched to art. In 2009, he started the band Monday Mourners because he wanted to play in an alternative country band.
Professor Aaron Tinder performing with his band, the Monday Mourners. Photo by: Andrew Tressel
Monday Mourners plays in public a few times a month, but they are most active in the summer, when the band members have more free time. Everything changed for Tinder in October 2014. Tinder visited thedoctor for back pain, assuming it was just a pinched nerve. After trying other methods to resolve the pain, the doctor decided it was best to do an MRI. The MRI showed swollen lymph nodes all around his neck, completely unrelated to the back pain. They took a lymph node out to test it, and that is when the real news came.
“I woke up in a hospital bed, and was told I have cancer,” Tinder said.
That October, Tinder was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
By the time doctors discovered it, the cancer had already spread to his lymph nodes. The first surgery he underwent was to remove his thyroid and some of the swollen lymph nodes. In early 2016, Tinder had a second surgery to remove the rest of the swollen lymph nodes.
News that big is life changing. It can make people stop living, but for Tinder, it did just the opposite. What has kept him going these last couple years is staying busy.
“I need to have multiple things going on to focus on, in a positive way, in order to keep me energized,” Tinder said.
If Tinder is not rocking out or teaching he most likely has a sketchbook in hand. He exhibits his artwork in different venues around Iowa. His goal is to showcase his work in competitive settings among his peers. However, from time to time, he is given the opportunity to showcase an entire body of his work, which can sometimes lead to sales. You can currently find Tinder’s work exhibit at Firetrucker Brewery in Ankeny.
After two surgeries and some radiation, he is now on the road to recovery. Six months after the last surgery, Tinder had a scan, and everything looked good. He will continue getting scans every six months, and hopefully soon enough he can say he is cancer free.
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