Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - I first noticed a problem when I was training for Hood To Coast last year. I had a shortness of breath that was minor and I just assumed would clear the more I exercised, but it really never went away. Even during Hood To Coast it was still there, and I would fatigue a lot earlier than in years past but I finished the race and felt pretty good.
Then, a couple of months later, I developed a runny nose and a persistent cough that I mistook for a cold or the flu and thought, it too, would pass with time, but a month later, it was still there, not causing a lot of discomfort but not going away either.
When I finally went to see my Primary Care Physician, Dr. Anne Hirsch, she suggested several specialists and I went to see each of them, and they all had ideas of what it could be, but the symptoms never went away.
In January of this year she sent me in for MRI’s and scans to see if anything showed up, and they discovered two, tiny nodules on my left lung that didn’t appear to be cancerous but suggested I should come back in three months to get another MRI and see if they had grown.
Three months later I had the same procedure done, and they had grown and I was called and told it’s melanoma cancer of the lung. That was in May. I was referred to Dr. Walter Urba at Providence Cancer Center and felt totally comfortable with the care he was giving me.
We had the surgery in June to remove part of my left lung and the two cancer growths, but since there was really no effective treatment for melanoma cancer, they would like me to come back every three months to make sure it doesn’t appear again.
Quite honestly, one of the first things I discovered was how little I knew about this kind of cancer. It likely began as a sore on the outside of my skin 10-20, even 30 years ago. It likely healed by itself, but burrowed under the skin and cancer cells got into my bloodstream and simply circulated until my immune system lowered to the point where I wasn’t able to fight them off as I had in the past, and they clustered and grew on my lung. Unfortunately, there really is no chemotherapy or radiation that can rid the body of these melanoma cancer cells and about all that can be done is catch it early if it ever comes back again.
Three months later, the scans all came back with the same results: there was no cancerous growths anywhere in my body and I was given a clean bill of health. That was in August.
Then a couple of weeks ago, in fact, the day before Thanksgiving, another 3 month scan was taken and not only was the cancer back, but it had spread to my kidney, liver and both lungs. That’s the bad news. The good news: it’s treatable. Not curable, but there are a couple of treatment options available that can hopefully stop the growth and shrink the tumors and get me back on my feet in no time at all.
As it turns out there is an experimental drug study being conducted, right here in Portland, at Providence Cancer Center that shows a great deal of promise, but the only way I would be eligible, would be if the cancer hadn’t spread to my brain so I went through a brain MRI and the results were negative, it hadn’t spread, that was last week and beginning tomorrow I will be part of this nationwide study to see if these experimental drugs are effective with melanoma cancer.
I was told by Dr. Urba to take immediate medical leave so I could remove as much stress as possible from my environment and devote all my energy to not only healing but to prepare for any side effects of these experimental drugs that I’ll begin taking tomorrow, which leads me to where I am today.
Faith, attitude and a great support team that surround me with prayer, great medical help and positive thoughts which, in turn, enable me to face this new challenge with confidence that I will not only overcome this recent challenge but be back on the air again, doing what I love to do.
So, I just wanted to ask you for your continued patience and prayers and know how much I miss you and cling to the hope that God got me this far and he’ll get me the rest of the way. Between God and my wife, Rita, I’m covered! She’s been incredible throughout this year and as weird as it may seem that cancer has been a blessing. It really has in so many other ways. First and foremost in my faith in God and my love for Rita.
So I thought what I would do is keep you posted with updates and sort of journal my thoughts on what will happen over these next few weeks and shed a little light on the whole issue of cancer and how many lives have been touched by this disease.
There are 1500 people who die every day in this country from cancer. 1500 a day, 10, 500 a week, 52 weeks a year and several have lost their battle with cancer in the short time it took you to read this message. But for every person that loses his or her battle with cancer, there are so many more who don’t and I’ve chosen the latter.
Thank you for your understanding and for your prayers and I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Les
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