40 Year Old Kidney Cancer Survivor (2001)

My name is Jim. I had just turned 38 when I was diagnosed in 2001 with Stage 1 RCC. My wife had just lost her 40 year old brother 4 months earlier to cancer (melanoma) and it was a very scary time. As with many people, it was caught by "accident" by a family nurse practitioner (my HMO doctor quit -3rd one in a year) who ordered a ultrasound for what we thought was a hernia due to a shooting pain down my leg which was unrelated. I had a "radical nephrectomy" and they removed my right kidney in January of 2001. I was back to work by March -- and have had no recurrance. So for those of you out there with this disease, please know there is hope. Many people survive and live a healthy, normal life!