Survivor on the Bridge to Healing
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Changing up the lyrics to one of the signature records of the late 1960s folk movement should come with serious consequence. But as far as Phil McCarty, a stage 3 oral cancer survivor, is concerned, Simon & Garfunkel got it all wrong.
"When it comes to cancer, there's an ocean of troubled water you have to swim through to make it safely to the other bank," McCarty said. "You can't just put up a 'Bridge Over Troubled Water,' like the old song says, without having muddled through the hard part."
"Thanks to Dr. Suen and the care of his staff, I’m able to relay my story of hope.”
So Paul Simon will just have to excuse McCarty's take on the lyrics he penned to the folk duo's optimistic swan song. Following his sudden oral cancer diagnosis in April 2000, McCarty didn't have the luxury of opting to travel a bridge safely above those dark days. In retrospect, however, he says the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute was the boat that ushered him through.
"When you're diagnosed with cancer, it comes down to two things, really," McCarty said. "You need hope and you need healing, and both of those were given to me at the Cancer Institute."
Never a tobacco user and not someone who abused alcohol, McCarty thought there was no chance a series of ear, throat and head pains were side effects of oral cancer. After an original diagnosis, he was pointed to James Y. Suen, M.D., chairman of the UAMS Department of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery, for a second opinion.
Suen began aggressive treatment that included 38 rounds of radiation and four weeks of inpatient chemotherapy. Because the cancer was located in the back of the throat near the base of McCarty’s tongue, his treatment was especially challenging.
"I refer to my months of treatment as my 'dark days,' but without that challenge there would be no hope for recovery," McCarty said.
Before treatment, he weighed in at 205 pounds. As a result of living off a feeding tube for nearly eight months, McCarty's 6-foot frame shrunk to a paltry 135 pounds. The drastic weight loss and the obvious physical changes that come along with it were often dramatic for friends and family.
"I play a lot of tennis and there were days when I'd go by to stand at the fence and watch," McCarty said. "Oftentimes people I knew or usually played with wouldn’t even recognize me."
After eight years cancer free, he's back up to a healthy 185 pounds and serving up aces several days a week on the tennis court.
Detouring the Bridge Over Troubled Water
"To have world-class treatment five minutes from my backdoor right here in Little Rock no doubt gave me a second lease on life," he said.
McCarty reflects so positively on his experience, that he gladly volunteers his time for speaking engagements relaying the story of his survival and the role that the Cancer Institute played in it.
"If I could give one piece of advice, it'd be to listen to your body," McCarty said. "Mine was telling me for six months that something wasn't right. Thanks to Dr. Suen and the care of his staff, I'm able to relay my story of hope."
Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute
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