DALLAS -- The Page family from Plano lives for Halloween night every year. It is a family tradition to put together a themed haunted house on the front lawn. This year, the theme was an Old West ghost town.
Joey Page, a proud Cajun born in Louisiana, started the tradition 15 years ago. He and his son made all the backdrops for this year's theme. But in Joey's view some things are scarier when they are unknown.
"The scariest thing in this yard is my cancer," Page said.
Fifteen years ago he found out he had melanoma. There were 13 tumors all over his body. He told WFAA that his wife was in the room when doctors talked with him about the diagnosis.
"She was standing there when they told me I had 12 months to live," Page said. "And that's the hardest thing to see."
But now he is eight months in remission and all that remains is a casket he built for himself 15 years ago when he was supposed to die. Now that casket is a prop on the front lawn.
"We're all going to die but I'm going to die my way and it's going to be having one heck of a good time," he said.
The coffin is made of pine wood. The handles are from his grandfather's desk and the fabric that lines it was picked out by his wife.
After 15 years being stored in the backyard it now goes to the grave. Joey Page is getting rid of the coffin.
"Why does it have to go?" Page said. "Because I beat the bastard."
He is beating cancer. He knows it may return, but it won't beat his spirit.
"We're all going to die," he said. "But I'm going to die my way and it's going to be having one heck of a good time."
On a Halloween night, Joey Page knows what scary really is.