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SALT LAKE CITY — Imagine learning doctors would have to remove half your leg to save your life. That’s exactly what happened to Tracy Stocking, an architect and cancer survivor. He first noticed something wasn’t right six years ago and went to see his doctor.
“I just had a little swelling in my left foot: discomfort, but not really pain,” said Stocking. “I ignored it for a long time.”
The diagnosis was osteosarcoma: bone cancer. “We didn’t know what that meant. I said, ‘Does that mean cancer?’ He said, ‘Yes.’”
Stocking’s wife, Suzy, a teacher, was worried.
“We’d seen the X-ray that had a big circle of white. So we knew if it was cancer, he was in trouble.”
The timing couldn’t have been worse. Life was hectic and they had just sent a son on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their son, Max, remembers that fateful day they got the news Dad was sick.
“It was just surreal. I mean, you hear the word ‘cancer,’ and it was hard. It was just surreal.”
Doctors had to act fast. They removed part of Stocking’s foot, but they didn’t get clear margins. In a second surgery, they took most of his leg below the knee. Excruciating phantom pain haunted him night and day. Doctors said these real sensations feel as if they’re coming from a body part that’s no longer there but originate in the spinal cord and brain. If that wasn’t enough, nine months of grueling chemotherapy followed, but, thankfully, the phantom pain finally disappeared.
I think a good attitude always contributes to people's recovery. The better your attitude, the more likely you are to push yourself through difficult side effects.
–Dr. Gregory Litton, of Utah Cancer Specialists.
“It just went away. Somehow the chemo made it go away,” Stocking said.
Stocking said he was at the brink of death’s door — unable to keep food down, weak, with a sickly gray pallor. He couldn’t even work most days, and his son remembers the awful smell of his bedroom where he recovered. “It had that old-folks-home smell,” Max Stocking said. But even then, Stocking chose to look on the bright side. His doctor remembers his telltale upbeat outlook on life and all its challenges.
“Tracy’s one of those people that’s always had a great attitude, even when he was really down from chemotherapy,” said Dr. Gregory Litton, of Utah Cancer Specialists. “I think a good attitude always contributes to people’s recovery. The better your attitude, the more likely you are to push yourself through difficult side effects.”
Litton said that decades ago the outlook was grim for osteosarcoma patients. Only 20 percent were cured, while 80 percent faced a recurrence of the disease. Now, because bone cancer cells are more responsive to chemotherapy, that number has flipped. The cure rate is 80 percent.
Stocking is happy to be among that number. Surrounded by family at a holiday brunch at Ruth’s Diner, he recognized his blessings. He said excellent doctors, faith, family and good neighbors all contributed to his remarkable recovery. He even finds time to go wakeboarding at Lake Powell using a special covering to keep his prosthetic leg dry. Life is good for the Stockings, especially Tracy Stocking, who is back at work running his own firm and has no trouble now keeping up with children and a grandchild.
