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Nov 6, 2007 8:39 pm US/Eastern
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Local Doctor Gives Cancer Patients New Hope
To reach Dr. Jerome Canady, call his office at Spartan Medical Center 724-483-3639.
MONONGAHELA (KDKA) ―
He doesn't have a cure for cancer, but what a local surgeon has done is enough for hundreds of people locally, across the country and now around the world.
Doctor Jerome Canady offers hope to cancer patients who have been told to go home and die.
Many were told to give up but, instead, they found strength and a new lease on life.
"I had two different variations on the length of time I had to live," said
Rene Yeager, a pancreatic cancer patient.
Another pancreatic cancer patient, Donald Gerstner, was told, "Can't
do anything for you."
While
Linda Renchko, a liver cancer patient, recalled, "They
told me I had less than a five percent chance."
They had heard it all.
Yeager, Renchko and Gerstner were all handed death sentences from some of the top oncologists in the country.
But they never gave up.
"I've always been a believer that it is not over until it's over," said
Gerstner. "There is always something out there. Always hang onto that."
Hanging on is something they have all learned to do after seeing or hearing about a transplant and cancer surgeon featured on KDKA earlier this year.
Through digital imaging, Dr. Canady has been able to remove cancers that most doctors say are inoperable.
"The digital imaging and the mapping… We utilize this three dimensional views of the liver or pancreas or the vessels in the GI tract to basically see how the tumor is encompassing around the vessel or basically how to get an anatomical view of how you are going to operate on these people," said Dr. Canady.
He has been operating on hard-to-reach tumors for more than a year at
Monongahela Valley Hospital.
Some of the surgeries can take up to 20 hours and Dr. Canady has gone from two or three cases a month to that many in a week.
Jake Yeager, who has been married to cancer patient Renee for more than two decades says he couldn't imagine life with her.
"It's amazing to find someone who can give you the hope and from your article on KDKA, that's how we found hope and with Doctor Canady," said Yeager. "To me, it means everything because I don't know how long I can go without her being around."
Dr. Canady says two out of ten patients who come to him are candidates for surgery and most are successful, but not all.
Like the others, Karen Wypche had surgery in September.
She died a few weeks ago, but her husband still wanted to tell their story.
"That's why this is so important what you are doing now," said
Pete Wypche. "The
word is going to get out and people are going to live no matter how long it is. They are going to live."
Dr. Canady sums it up this way: "I feel good about giving patients a second chance."
Interested patients can contact Dr. Jerome Canady by calling his office at Spartan Medical Center (100 Stoops Drive, Suite 230, Monongahela, PA 15063) at 724-483-3639.
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