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15-Sep-2007 - TV's Stephen Andrew fights cancer diagnosis
TV's Stephen Andrew fights cancer diagnosis
Cindy E. Harnett, Victoria Times Colonist
Stephen Andrew couldn't have felt better just before he was diagnosed with cancer. The 49-year-old television news reporter had just completed his first half-marathon, he had been exercising regularly at the Esquimalt Recreation Centre and he had dropped some body fat from his 6-foot-1 frame. He hopped out of bed each morning feeling vibrant.
"I thought everything was fantastic," Andrew said. "I really had goals."
So when he saw blood in his urine during his final bathroom break before anchoring A-Channel's evening news on Nov. 3, 2006, he had to look twice.
"It was the biggest shock." He called his doctor there and then.
A few tests later - a Cystoscopy, ultrasound and CT Scan - he was diagnosed with Kidney Cancer. It was Nov. 15.
He was told he had a 10-centimetre Tumour. It was big but Andrew didn't know how big. The measurement meant nothing. Tumour sizes and running distances were equally foreign to him. He agreed to run the half-marathon only because he estimated the distance to be about five kilometres, rather than 21. He quickly learned just how gruelling a distance a half-marathon is.
And by the time a second CT Scan showed his kidney Tumour was actually 14 centimetres, he realized he was facing another tough road ahead.
There's no screening tool or program anywhere in the world for cancers like Andrew's, said oncologist Christian Kollmannsberger of the B.C. Cancer Agency in Vancouver.
The symptoms of Kidney Cancer leading up to blood in the urine are bland and unspecific. Most are picked up incidentally, through exams for other issues, Kollmannsberger said.
Andrew's story isn't the classic uplifting tale of how a screening test saved his life.
Instead, it's a sobering story of how a subtle but nagging pain dismissed by a patient as nothing turns out to be something significant. And how a doctor's examination or screening test earlier might save a life.
Andrew learned the cancer had spread to the bottom of one lung and possibly metastasized to his bones.
Faced with the possibility of death, he focused on what matters most. He married his longtime partner, artist Danny Stewart, worked even harder and prepared for a fight.
On Dec. 18, he had a radical Nephrectomy - his entire Kidney was removed and no bone cancer was detected. However, a PET scan in Vancouver in February confirmed a single cancerous nodule in his right lung.
It was removed and he was in the clear - or so everyone thought.
But in April, a followup CT Scan revealed multiple nodules have grown in both lungs. Surgery isn't an option.
Kollmannsberger said no one can predict with accuracy Andrew's future because every case is individual. However, the longtime prognosis for this stage of cancer is poor.
"Most patients die eventually from the disease," Kollmannsberger said.
Andrew is on a promising new drug called Sutent, funded only by the B.C. and Quebec governments following a Canada-wide trial.
It's not exactly Chemotherapy. Rather, it blocks the formation of blood vessels and targets growing Tumour cells. The downside is that most patients eventually become resistant to the drug.
After eight weeks on Sutent, Andrew was told on July 6 some Tumours had shrunk and others have disappeared. "That's very good," Kollmannsberger said.
But a CT Scan last Tuesday revealed what appears to be a new lump. While the situation remains stable, that new growth will require further examination in coming weeks.
On older drugs, someone with Andrew's diagnosis might have lived as little as 12 to 15 months. On the new drug, it can be a few years.
"It's dangerous. We can all reference statistics but when it comes down to prognosticate individual patients, we still do very badly," Kollmannsberger said. "All we can say is if we put 100 Andrews in a room, we know how many will survive more, or less, than two years. But you can't apply that to an individual patient."
Of his patient, Kollmannsberger said, "He's very realistic about things."
The TV reporter knows he could die but sees others surviving the same and worse cancers. And research and new drugs are making huge leaps. The B.C. Cancer Agency is exploring a number of new drugs and participating in trials to make them accessible to patients.
If Sutent ever stops working, there will be another drug. That's where Andrew has put his faith.
Hudson Mack, A-Channel news director, said he's encouraged Andrew "looks so good and seems to be doing so well."
Andrew himself said he's not scared: "I feel great."
The thing is, he thought he felt great before all this happened. Now he knows the difference.
Over the years, Andrew had a nagging "very dull ache" in his side - one he attributed to poor posture. "It never entered my mind it could be anything serious."
He never mentioned it to his doctor. He only had three physical exams over 14 years - the gateway to other screening tests.
According to a survey of more than 1,100 men for the American Academy of Family Physicians published in June, nearly 80 per cent don't go for check-ups because they believe they are in excellent shape.
About the same number go to the doctor only at the urging of a significant other.
Andrew wasn't hesitant to see a doctor. He just self-diagnosed his pain and concluded it was nothing.
His father, now dead, had jaw and Prostate Cancer but most of his other relatives, including his three younger brothers and 73-year-old mother in Ontario, are cancer free.
As Andrew lives with the disease, he remains focused on his friends, family and job.
"We're really proud of his courage, not only in his personal health crisis, but in his willingness to share his story and to continue to work," Mack said.
Andrew is using his media role to inspire more people to "be in tune with their bodies," demand yearly physical exams and discuss with a professional any physical or mental changes.
Men often put more care and maintenance into their cars than their bodies, he said.
Kollmannsberger agrees annual checkups are important. However, the B.C. government does not pay doctors for this hour-long exploratory exam and discussion time.
Kollmannsberger said while B.C.'s treatment programs are the best, there's room to improve screening.
Meanwhile, Andrew is focused on the future. Many expected he'd travel the world, but he said he's rediscovered he loves exactly where he is, doing exactly what he does.
On Sept. 29, his family from around the world will come to Victoria - the first reunion in decades - to celebrate his marriage in a wedding reception he's put off too long.
"My life is full. I don't know if it could get any fuller."
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Comments
Original Message-----
From: Glanceback on behalf of Greg LANCE-WATKINS Sent: Mon 9/17/2007 9:03 PM To: Harnett, Cindy (Victoria Times Colonist) Subject: http://www.kidneycancerresource.com/wiki/index.php?title=Times_Colonial_%28KC%29
Hi,
I do hope you will approve of the use of your story about Stephen Andrews as an inspiration for others facing the Challenges of Kidney Cancer either as patients, professionals or carers at: http://www.kidneycancerresource.com/wiki/index.php?title=Times_Colonial_%28KC%29
Please pass on the web address to Stephen as our site is founded, built and maintained by people just like him, with Kidney Cancer. Publication of our web site would be much appreciated as it may help others and if it helps one person it has been worthwhile.
Thanks for his example and wish him Warm Hands as we hold out our Hands in Britain to a friend following a path we know well.
Regards, Greg L-W. Greg Lance-Watkins UK - 44 (0) 1291 - 62 65 62
Dear Mr. Lance-Watkins: Please feel free to use the story with an appropriate credit to the Times Colonist. In fact, if you could link to the story we would be appreciative; we plan to keep it up on our website for a long time because we find Stephen’s story, and the rest of Cindy Harnett’s package of stories, inspiring. Continued best wishes in your journey. Sincerely, Lucinda Chodan
Lucinda Chodan Editor-in-Chief Victoria Times Colonist 2621 Douglas St. Victoria, B.C. V8T 4M2
THANK YOU to Lucinda Chodan who has generously supported our efforts.
We are pleased to find that NO PROFESSIONAL has to date done other than seek to help us - such is their generosity - on occasions less established individuals feel threatened by the exposure, which we can understand. User: Greg L-W.
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