July 2010: Scott McPherson

Featuring and Written By:
Scott McPherson

I had been in serious pain from my left buttocks to my heel but I was working 2 and 3 jobs. I didn't have time to go to the doctors so I was taking major amounts of over-the-counter pain killers just to function enough to work.


So this went on until May 2009, when i came home from work and couldn't walk because of the pain. I fell out of my vehicle, crawled into my house, woke my wife, Connie, and she hauled me into the doctor. They did a MRI and found 2 bulging disks in my back.

An easy enough fix, right? Well, they also found a shadow on my right kidney and they ordered a ct scan to follow-up. The doctor told me it was a tumor and they were very sure that the tumor was cancer; however, it was small -about the size of a tennis ball. They sent me to a specialist the following week. He confirmed it was cancer, but that it was grapefruit size not tennis ball size! After the initial shock wore off, we asked what was going to be our plan of attack? He told us I would need to return in a week to have my kidney removed surgically. So a week later, I was in surgery having my kidney removed. After 8 hours of surgery, I was minus a kidney, a rib and 2 lymph nodes. They also found out that besides having cancer, I also have a kidney disease called PKD (poly cystic kidney disease). Even though I had most likely beaten cancer, I was going to die of this disease but that's another story.
I was asked by my doctors to join a test group to test a cancer drug. It was to see if the medication would help keep my cancer away. So for the last year, I have been taking medications and having a check up every other month and a CT scan every 3 months. In June 2010, I had my CT scan and it confirmed that I continue to be cancer free - which makes me cancer free for a year!

It has been a long and hard road from the 2 months of surgical recovery, to trying to get my strength and weight back - I went from 205 pounds down to 148 pounds, to convincing myself and family members that I have beaten this, to just going on with my life as normal and doing the things on my bucket list - things I really want to accomplish before my time truly comes, to going back to work full-time only to have to find a new job because my boss (at the time) decided to replace me due to the amount of time I was off work.


So a year later, I am working 2 jobs again, sometimes doing 3 or more jobs, remodeling our house, trying to pay doctor bills (I had no insurance at the time I was diagnosed and had surgery. I was laid off from a job where I had insurance about a month before my cancer diagnosis) and just living my life.


By: Scott McPherson