Standard-Examiner
Battling back from cancer
Bountiful man gives credit to positive attitude, new drug
Thr, June 26, 2003
By JAMIE LAMPROS
Standard-Examiner correspondent
BOUNTIFUL -- Six years ago Robert Vandegrift had a pain in his stomach he said is impossible to describe.
"It was tremendous pain. I'm not even sure how to describe it," the 74-year-old said. "I went to the hospital and they sent me home saying they couldn't find anything wrong with me."
Still in pain, Vandegrift returned to the hospital. After an exploratory surgery, doctors cut out a baseball size tumor. Vandegrift was told he had advanced colon cancer that had spread to both lobes of his liver. His doctor gave him six months to live.
"They told my family I had closer to four months and (told) my oldest son I had three weeks," he said.
That was in 1996. Today, Vandegrift's cancer is in remission and he is living life to its fullest. He said he is alive today for three reasons: surgery, a medication he was given during a clinical trial and his own strategy.
"I wasn't ready to die and I fired my doctor because he gave me no hope at all," he said. "You are so vulnerable when they tell you that you are going to die. It's scary. They ask you if you're scared to die. What a dumb question."
Colon cancer is the third most common type of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. Symptoms can include a change in bowel habits, diarrhea or constipation, a feeling of fullness or bloating, rectal bleeding, blood in the stool and fatigue.
The disease is highly curable if detected early, but by the time a person has symptoms, it's usually too late. Instead of following his doctor's advice to have intravenous chemotherapy treatments, Vandegrift researched his options.
"One of the big problems out there is that a lot of doctors want to just throw you on chemotherapy immediately. I don't think anyone should rush into it," he said.
In April, Vandegrift decided to enter into a clinical trial at the Huntsman Center. The medication that would be tested was called Xeloda, an oral, tumor-activated anticancer drug that has since been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Xeloda ultimately interferes with RNA synthesis, Dr. Saundra Buys, oncology doctor at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, said. "Xeloda is one more drug that can help some people with metastatic breast and colon cancer and has the advantage of being a pill instead of an IV injection."
Knowing that he had a 50-50 chance of getting the experimental drug, Vandegrift invented his own cancer cure.
He had pictures taken of his tumors scanned into his computer.
"I erased the tumors myself," he said. "It was more of a mind thing, but when you have cancer you have to develop something that will get you up when you're down."
Six weeks into the clinical trial, a new scan of Vandegrift's liver showed that the tumors were much smaller. Because of his successful progression he was allowed to continue taking the medication.
"I was never sick and didn't lose my hair and started to gain weight again," Vandegrift said. "I knew a lot of people out there were praying for me so instead of praying for myself I prayed for them."
Buys said it's very useful for patients to learn what they can about their type of cancer and its treatments. She said there is a plethora of education at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute Web sites. She also said it's always a good thing to put trust in a doctor.
"Some say I am a miracle but the miracle is in science and education," Vandegrift said. "In the meantime, I am living life to the fullest. I went out and bought myself a Cadillac and took out a loan for some home improvements. . . . I'm very active and am very involved in speaking out to cancer patients."