Taylor Leddin (Host): Welcome back to the Well Within Reach podcast, brought to you by riversidehealthcare.org. I'm your host, Taylor Leddin-McMaster. And joining us today is Marcus Whitlow, who is here at the Frankfurt campus. We are in the cancer treatment center here at the Frankfort campus, and he's going to tell us about his journey here, when he was treated for cancer.

Thank you so much for joining us, mark.

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): Okay. Thank you for having me.

Taylor Leddin (Host): Yeah. Before we get into the questions, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): well, I'm a retired, retired military and retired police officer. been retired for four years now and, just try and enjoy the rest of my life.

Taylor Leddin (Host): Yeah. While your story starts with being an annual participant in Riverside CT lung cancer screenings, can you tell us about that?

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): Okay. well, I was a smoker for about 50 years. And, ever since Riverside started offering a CT lung scan, my, regular physician, Liz Deck, told me, you need to have this done every single year. So for many, many years I've been going through that and now And then, you something would show up on the CT lung scan, a nodule or something, and, we'd go back, check it out later, and, you know.

It would be gone. And so no things come and go when you have those types of thing, scans. And, several years ago, something showed up on, one of the scans. And, we went back and several months later did another scan and it seemed like it had gotten larger. so she sent me to Dr. Kana, a pulmonologist.

Taylor Leddin (Host): Okay.

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): To have him take a look at it We ended up doing a biopsy of the lung and it came back cancerous. So yeah, Those are words you never want to hear, but right. so, from that point, Dr. Kana sent me to, Riverside Cancer treatment. Mm-hmm. Uh, center and to, talk to Dr. Hamden and, at that point.

we discussed everything. Dr. Hamden looked at the lung scans and said, they were gonna knock it out of me. That, fortunately we caught it in the early stages. And with that, by catching it in the early stages, with today's modern medicine, no. He said no, they were gonna knock this out of me.

from that point we started doing, immunotherapy and radiation treatments. Mm-hmm. that lasted about four or five months. And sure enough, had end result was, they did knock it outta me. they'd cure me from the cancer. But the main thing was to, fortunately for myself, we caught it in the early stages.

Taylor Leddin (Host): Yeah.

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): Most of the time, by the time, no. People if they don't have these screenings and catch it early, by the time they have symptoms, it's too late. You know, it's gone too far.

Taylor Leddin (Host): Yeah. tell me a little bit about your mentality of that. 'cause it sounds like you were on the nose getting things done, getting things checked out, and now looking back on that, how was your perception of, prevention? Maybe changed.

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): Oh, prevention is utmost. I mean, no, there's so many things. in this case, the prevention was catching it early. We know, again, it was isolated in one area. Mm-hmm. And, no, it hadn't spread, this type of cancer. It likes to come back and likes to spread throughout, other lymph nodes.

Mm-hmm. And. by catching it early, you it was isolated and they were able to treat, You just that one, that area. so by doing that And then doing immunotherapy afterwards, they we're holding it back and three months, I go back and have another scan. Mm-hmm. But, uh, hopefully, we can keep it in remission.

Yeah. But you for myself it's prevention. Prevention is, and catching things early are the most important things. There's other things that, you people can do, especially men, doing a colonoscopy. every five years. Yeah. no. there's a cancer that can be prevented, nobody likes to go through that. But it's just a prep.

So you can stop a lot of, different types of cancers they're caught early.

Taylor Leddin (Host): Absolutely. Uh,

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): also, prostate, cancer. it is a simple blood test that you can do annually and catch mm-hmm. Again, catch things in the early stages. And, today modern medicine is just, has made so many advancements that, prevention is, The main thing.

Taylor Leddin (Host): Absolutely. Yeah. No, I couldn't agree more. going back a little bit, you mentioned first you went to Liz Deck And then saw Dr. Kana in pulmonology And then came here to Dr. Hamden. Can you tell me a little bit about what. And the collaboration was like, of working through those different Riverside offices.

And how, your team worked together in keeping you in the loop for things. What was that

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): all like? Oh, it, it was fantastic. from the time, we diagnosed, that it was cancerous, within a week I was. Starting immunotherapy and starting radiation. Yeah. And all of that took place down at the bourbon, a campus.

Taylor Leddin (Host): Okay.

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): at the center Cancer Center there. Mm-hmm. And couldn't believe know how well everybody worked together. I mean, You know, they were just so nice. treated you like family and kept you in the loop of everything going on. so For the first six weeks, everything was done down there. And then after that, then, I was able to, depending upon what it was, go between, the Frankfurt campus And the bourbon, a campus.

Taylor Leddin (Host): Okay. So they kept you on Route 45 the whole time? Yeah. Very good.

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): But yeah, the staff, the nurses, doctors, everybody just been, tremendous and, again, they're just like family.

Taylor Leddin (Host): Yeah. That's wonderful. Mm-hmm. So tell me about when your treatment was complete, and I assume you got to ring the bell. Um.

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): Ashley? Yes.

Taylor Leddin (Host): Yeah. Mm-hmm. Tell me what that was like. What was your reaction?

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): Oh, euphoria.

Taylor Leddin (Host): Yeah.

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): Yeah. No, Dr. Hamden said, and, Dr. Rashed mm-hmm. Both said no, they were gonna knock it out and, they kept their promise

Taylor Leddin (Host): good. Mm-hmm. That's great. That's great. And can you tell me a little bit more about, the nursing staff And the other team? how were they throughout the process? How did they react? During the bell ringing and, I know you said they were like family. What? Oh, yeah.

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): I, still, there's, of the nursing staff, I see 'em, again, it's just like old friends. Mm-hmm. they were treated you like, were part of their family. And, I couldn't believe how nice everybody was and, concerned, any concern that you had. they followed up on it. And, so, you I just feel at home here.

Taylor Leddin (Host): Great. That's great. So I take it you would recommend the Riverside Cancer Institute? Oh,

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely.

Taylor Leddin (Host): Yeah. Is there anything else you would like to share with our audience about your experience?

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): Well, again, to me, prevention is, the main thing. Mm-hmm. If you can prevent something from happening, to do it and today, again, modern medicine is, has taken such leaps and bounds that, you so many things are just so easy. I mean, a CT lung scan is five minutes.

Taylor Leddin (Host): Okay. Wow.

Marcus Whitlow (Patient): it's really nothing. And you just lay down, they do the scan and you're gone. Yeah. And so, I mean, no, it's, My suggestion or would be that, if somebody has smoked or a former smoker, to take advantage of, You this, CT lung scan because mm-hmm You know, it, it can make a difference, catching things early, they can more than likely cure you, but, if you wait too long until you have symptoms, then a lot of times can be too late.

Taylor Leddin (Host): Yeah. Well, thank you so much for that advice and thank you for your time today. I really appreciate it And for sharing your story. And thank you all for tuning into the Well Within Reach podcast. To learn more about Riverside Cancer Institute, visit riversidehealthcare.org dot org.