UT MD Anderson treats colon cancer recurrence<\/p>\n
Lawrence did well for years. His family moved from Florida to Dallas. Then, scans in January 2025 revealed a new nodule in his right lung and some activity in\u00a0lymph nodes<\/a>\u00a0in his abdomen. A\u00a0biopsy<\/a>\u00a0confirmed a colon cancer\u00a0recurrence<\/a>\u00a0that had\u00a0spread<\/a>\u00a0to his lymph nodes, making it stage 4 disease.<\/p>\n A friend who was treated at UT MD Anderson recommended that Lawrence make an appointment.<\/p>\n \u201cHe told me, \u2018If you have something like a broken arm or chipped tooth, go to the hospital. But cancer treatment is very specialized. So, you need to go to an institution that specializes in treating cancer, and UT MD Anderson is the best cancer hospital in the world,\u2019\u201d Lawrence recalls.<\/p>\n He had his first appointment at UT MD Anderson on March 12, 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cUT MD Anderson stood out right away from other hospitals I\u2019d been to \u2013 just in how thorough they were performing my CT scan,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThe technicians use\u00a0state-of-the-art equipment<\/a>, they know what they\u2019re looking for, and they understand how to take the pictures to provide the doctor with the best perspective. And I got my results quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n Gastrointestinal medical oncologist\u00a0Van Morris, M.D.<\/a>, went over\u00a0treatment options<\/a>\u00a0with Lawrence, including the roles of surgery and chemotherapy.<\/p>\n \u201cDr. Morris said we could either do nothing, do chemotherapy or do chemotherapy and surgery,\u201d Lawrence says. \u201cHe and his team walked me through each option, making sure I had a clear understanding of the pros and cons for each.\u201d<\/p>\n Lawrence chose to undergo chemotherapy and surgery. He completed six rounds of the chemotherapy regimen FOLFIRI locally in Dallas and came to UT MD Anderson for scans and bloodwork. Doctors wanted the chemo to\u00a0shrink the metastasis<\/a>\u00a0in Lawrence\u2019s lung before surgery. The chemo did shrink the tumor.<\/p>\n On July 26, colon and rectal surgeon\u00a0Brian Bednarski, M.D.<\/a>, completed surgery to remove lymph nodes in Lawrence\u2019s abdomen, three of which were found to be cancerous.<\/p>\n \u201cDr. Bednarski had great bedside manner,\u201d says Lawrence. \u201cHe really helped me prepare mentally for the surgery. He had normal human conversations with me. He made me laugh. He showed me he\u2019s still a doctor, but he also possesses a human side.\u201d<\/p>\n On Aug. 29, thoracic surgeon\u00a0Kyle Mitchell, M.D.<\/a>, performed a\u00a0wedge resection<\/a>\u00a0to remove the cancer from Lawrence\u2019s lung.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I appreciate most about my surgeons was not their cultural competence, but their cultural intelligence,\u201d he says. \u201cThey asked me about my preferences and my feelings, so they could understand the fears and concerns I had. That made me feel very comfortable proceeding with the surgeries.\u201d<\/p>\n Since November, Lawrence\u2019s scans have shown\u00a0no evidence of disease<\/a>, and his blood tests have shown no signs of cancer coming back. He remains off treatment for colon cancer and comes to\u00a0UT MD Anderson\u00a0every three months for checkups. What he most looks forward to on his visits is eating a half-pancake from the\u00a0restaurant at the Rotary House Hotel<\/a>. He dubs them the best pancakes in the world.<\/p>\n \u201cThroughout everything, I\u2019ve had the support of my wife, family, friends, faith and my work,\u201d he says. \u201cI kicked it up a gear in the community by hosting programs that put me in front of a lot of people, so I could share my story.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UT MD Anderson treats colon cancer recurrence Lawrence did well for years. His family moved from Florida to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[47853,91926,1145,66660,44000,1142,1146,56,58,57,39161,39164,75671,1148,2822],"class_list":["post-291440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-african-american","tag-cancer-recurrence","tag-caregivers","tag-colon-cancer","tag-colorectal-cancer","tag-family-friends","tag-health-vigilant","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-in-treatment","tag-newly-diagnosed","tag-patient-caregiver-stories","tag-patients","tag-survivors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}