David’s Story: Facing Cancer with a Warrior's Spirit
After decades of serving his community as a dedicated educator and mentor, David is now using his strength to fight cancer—and inspire others along the way.
David Herman has spent his adult life in service. A longtime educator, vice principal, grammar school principal, father and stepfather, and small business owner, he’s spent more than three decades giving back to his New Jersey community in every way he could.
“I’ve always believed everyone deserves that one person who sees them differently. I like being that person. Whatever your situation is, I was the face you came to see,” says David, who led his district’s adult education program for years, helping students of all ages—including many who had dropped out or been incarcerated - obtain their high school diplomas.
He had no plans to slow down as he was juggling his businesses, mentoring students, and running around the halls of his grammar school as principal. That is, until a friend looked at him and asked, “Are you trying to lose weight?”
Although he had some fatigue and back pain, David didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. But out of caution, he went to the doctor for bloodwork. Just 48 hours later, he received a shocking diagnosis: stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
“It stopped me dead in my tracks,” David says. “No one in my family had ever had cancer so I didn’t really know what stage 4 even meant.”
Charting a new path through clinical trials
David met with oncologist Dr. Gulam Manji and surgeon Dr. John Chabot at Columbia, and his care team moved quickly. Because the cancer was advanced and his tumor markers were high, he began an aggressive course of chemotherapy right away.
As a patient with metastatic pancreatic cancer, David was eligible for several clinical trials testing promising new therapies at Columbia. He first enrolled in a study known as Chemo4METPANC, which randomized patients to receive either standard of care or an experimental combination of chemotherapy with immunotherapy. In that study, David was randomized to receive the standard regimen.
Today, he’s participating in a new clinical trial in partnership with Revolution Medicines, testing a targeted therapy called daraxinrasib. The drug was recently granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) following impressive results in early-phase trials, particularly for patients whose tumors haven’t responded well to chemotherapy.
“David is doing very well with the drug,” says Dr. Manji. “It’s exciting—thanks to advances in research, we now have more treatment options than ever for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, particularly with drugs targeting a once ‘undruggable’ protein responsible for most pancreatic tumors.”
Giving back in the face of cancer
When he was first diagnosed and realized the severity of the cancer, David struggled to find answers. “I didn’t understand why it happened to me, what did I do wrong? I was in a bad place emotionally,” he says. “I didn’t feel strong.”
Then one day, after a conversation with his best friend Melissa, something clicked. “I started to realize that I’ve always shown up for everyone else—my students, my community and clients, my loved ones,” David says. “It was time to show up for myself. I had to stop asking ‘Why me?’ and start fighting—for me, and for the people who love me.”
That’s when he created Principal Herman’s Heroes—a Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) fundraising team named in his honor. In just a few months, the team raised more than $27,000, making them one of the top teams in New Jersey. Friends, students, families, and neighbors—all people David had supported over the years—came out to support him in return.
“The outpouring of love overwhelmed me,” he says. “Everyone I worked with over the years—they made me feel cared for at a time when I really needed help. I’ve always been the guy who shows up for other people. Now, people were showing up for me.”
Hope, posted daily
While cancer treatment has kept him away from the school building, David hasn’t stopped leading. Every day, he shares his “warrior statements” on his Facebook and Instagram pages, under the handle Principal Herman. Sometimes it’s a candid update about how he’s feeling. On other days, it’s a message of hope—for fellow cancer patients, for caregivers, or for anyone struggling with something.
“I’ve gotten emails and messages from people across the country saying my words helped them,” he says.
Even on his hardest days, when walking was a challenge and fatigue was crushing, David pushed himself into physical therapy with the support of his loved ones. “I’m not ready to retire,” he says. “I want to get back to my students.”
Relying on loved ones, ready to serve again
He credits his friends and loved ones for giving him the energy to keep fighting. “I’m tough, but I wouldn’t have the strength without them. No one wins this battle alone. You need people to take your hand and push you through the tough days.”
Now, David is focused on using his experience to help others—whether by driving patients to appointments, providing emotional support, or connecting families with resources. “This might be my next calling.”
A quote on the back of his truck sums up his mindset:
Fate whispers to the warrior, ‘You cannot withstand the storm.’ And the warrior whispers back, ‘I am the storm.'
David faces this battle with the same strength and purpose that’s defined his life. “Everybody needs someone to love and fight for them,” he says. “I’ve got both. So, I’m doing pretty good.”
