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Ed Yeates ReportingCancer survivors, especially those who had colon cancer, are identifying with President Hinckley today.
Though President Hinckley is at LDS Hospital, colon cancer patients there who come in routinely for some of the new generation therapies, feel a kinship with him today.
Using minimally invasive laproscopic surgery, doctors have removed President Hinckley's cancer and a small but diseased portion of his large intestine. From this surgery, he should recover nicely. The next stage is to identify what stage cancer he has.
Rue Lawrence is at Huntsman for one of his twice-monthly outpatient treatments. Even though he has advanced stage four colon cancer, he's doing remarkably well on one of the new generation drugs. Like many cancer patients, he feels a kinship with President Hinckley.
Rue Lawrence, Colon Cancer Patient: "I felt akin. I felt, because you feel that way with everybody, it's kind of a brotherhood and sisterhood."
Though Rue is 68-years old, he plays golf and went to Disneyland with his family last year.
So, was President Hinckley's cancerous growth in its early stages or more advanced? And if more advanced, what about chemotherapy? Doctors say age alone is no longer a marker that determines whether patients should or should not get chemo.
Scott Kawada, M.D., Huntsman Cancer Institute: "There are some patients that are well into their 80's or 90's that physiologically may be more like a 65 or 70-year old."
John Ward, M.D., Huntsman Cancer Institute: "Those that are pretty much limited to the wall, very early stage one colon cancer, the rate of survival is more than 90-percent."
There are three new generation drugs now available for targeting colon cancer. Since still all have side effects, each has to be weighed for risk versus benefit for each patient.
