Editor’s Note: Several teams sponsored by area businesses and cancer survivors are out on the streets and in their businesses right now raising money for the American Cancer Society through the Carthage Relay for Life. This is the first of a series of stories The Carthage Press will feature about cancer survivors and their stories of persistence and courage in the face of an implacable disease.
Meet Don Hill
Don Hill is married to the 2010 Relay For Life of Carthage Event Chair, Kathy Hill. Don has been a supporter of the Relay long before he himself was stricken with bladder cancer in August of 2006.
He and Kathy have even travelled to and attend a Relay For Life Event in Georgia!
Don is diabetic so when he started to see blood in his urine he was concerned that there was a problem with his kidneys.
Don went to see Dr. Jonathan Manzer since his family doctor was out-of-town. A nurse practitioner at Manzer’s office scheduled an ultra sound. The ultra sound showed a tumor in his bladder.
Next, Don’s family doctor, Dr. Bruce Edwards, referred Don to Dr. Roger Schoenfeld who ordered a body and bone scan to see if there were any other tumors and luckily none were found. Dr. Schoenfeld then performed a scope of the bladder that showed a mushroom shaped tumor. Don had surgery to remove the tumor that was attached to the lining of the bladder.
The good news was that the tumor had not gone through the first lining. If it had, it would have required the removal of the entire bladder.
After surgery, Don began his chemo treatments, called BCG. BCG is put directly into the bladder via a catheter. Don took his treatments at the doctor’s office and then would be housebound for the next seven hours. The treatment made Don chill and run a temperature, and feel tired, but Don managed to return to work the next day after each treatment. Luckily, with BCG Don didn’t lose any of his hair, which is common with many chemo therapies. Don and Kathy said their faith and support from family and friends helped Don get through his chemo treatments.
Don had a scope of his bladder performed every three month during the chemo, which he took for two years. The kind of tumor Don had is the kind that can reoccur, so the doctor’s continue to scope Don’s bladder twice a year. Don is looking forward to a time when the scope will only have to be performed once a year for the remainder of his life.
Don and Kathy said: “Dr. Schoenfeld and his staff were a big part of making it through the treatments. They were very caring and helpful.”
Dr. Schoenfeld told us the week after Don’s surgery that Don was a very lucky man and that we had every reason to celebrate the results of his surgery.”
Don is a customer service representative at Leggett & Platt Sales Machine Products and has been employed with Leggett & Platt, Inc. in Carthage for 38 years.
Don enjoys spending time with Kathy, their granddaughters, their daughter, Piper and her husband, Stephen.
Don and Kathy attend the Fairview Christian Church in Carthage, and are active in Church Home Group. Don enjoys playing golf when he has time.
Don and Kathy recently joined the Carthage Family Y and Don said he enjoys working out on the exercise equipment. Don also likes to “putter” around the house or outside in his shed in good weather.
In the summer, Don and Kathy like to spend time in their pool with the family.
“Having cancer makes you stop to appreciate not only your life, but the time you spend with family and friends,” Don said. “Without our faith, family and friends, the journey would have been much harder.”
