Jeff Hinkley is pictured outside his family business. James Brown/Glasgow News 1
By JAMES BROWN
Glasgow News 1
A heart attack is not a good thing to have, but Jeff Hinkley of Glasgow believes his saved his life.
“If I hadn’t had the heart attack in 2018, I would be dead now,” he said.
A series of circumstances is how Hinkley sees his journey through cancer survival over the past four years. The heart attack forced him to have a routine of medications. The routine of medications meant he had to stay current on his blood work in order to get prescriptions refilled. When he waited too long to get his blood work done, he could not get refills.
“I was supposed to go in for some blood work … I was so late getting my blood work done, the doctor would not renew by ‘scripts until I got my blood work done,” he explained. “We were right in the middle of COVID, so I wasn’t really wanting to go to the doctor.”
At about that same time, Hinkley had been experiencing lightheadedness, “… like when I walked up and down steps.”
“I thought it was something heart-related. A lot of things were running through my head, but I wasn’t thinking it was anything too serious. In fact, the doc thought I had an ulcer because I was taking a ton of meds for the heart,” he said.
“Well, it turns out my hemoglobin count was 8. Your normal is around 14 or 15, so I was really leaking blood,” Hinkley said.
That led his doctor, Todd Williams, to set up a surgical procedure to examine his upper and lower gastrointestinal system. No ulcer was found, but a “fairly” large polyp was bleeding in his colon.
Surgeon Todd Marion found the polyp and called Jeff’s wife, Beth, “before I even woke up. He said he was sending off a sample, but he was certain it was cancer. He told her before I even knew, so that means she was all tore up,” Hinkley said.
The cancer was aggressive. It was found in September of 2020 and removed via surgery about a month later. Hinkley said it about doubled in size in that time.
Everything came out clean. He met with his oncologist and no other treatment was necessary.
“This was textbook. They took 14 inches of my colon. [The cancer] was right there where the colon and small intestine meet,” he explained.
Hinkley said getting the cancer diagnosis shocked him, but that he did a lot of reading about it and believed, because it was found early, he would be fine.
That seemed to be the case, but July of 2021 threw he and his family another curve ball.
He started regular computed tomography (CT) scans to ensure he remained cancer free, but one about nine months after the initial cancer surgery, found another spot on his colon.
“They did a biopsy … and it was an identical (genetic) match to the one I had before. It was where my colon and small intestine met, which is very unusual, especially since I had clean marks (until then),” Hinkley said.
This time he went to University of Louisville Hospital Surgical Oncology to Dr. Prejesh Philips. He had surgery there with chemotherapy and immunotherapy afterward. The routine scans following the prior cancer helped catch this second round early.
“It didn’t phase me. When you get that first diagnosis, that’s the mortality check, you’re laying in bed thinking about all the things you wish [you’d done]. It turns everything upside down,” Hinkley said. “I was more concerned about [Beth] and the kids [Ryan and Katie].”
“The third one was the worst.”
About three months after finishing the chemotherapy for the second colon cancer, a CT scan found a spot on his liver. Hinkley said through his research for the first two bouts with cancer, he knew liver cancer could cause significant problems.
“You know how I found out about my third cancer? I was on my way to an appointment in Bowling Green to visit [Dr. Philips]. He wanted me to pick up a copy of my CT I had just had the day before. I noticed on the way down there’s a piece of paper inside [the package] with the disc. I’m reading down the report and it says … there is a spot on the liver that needs to be examined for potential adenocarcinoma.
“I’m on I-65 driving to Bowling Green. And that’s probably the first time that it actually hit me. Because I am thinking, ‘this is my liver.’” Hinkley said.
His next surgery removed about 40 percent of his liver. He said he had a pill form of chemotherapy that wasn’t as rough on him as the prior treatments.
That surgery was April 20, 2023. He is approaching a year since the chemo treatment ended, but he has regular scans to be certain cancer hasn’t returned.
“I’m in the system now. If something shows up, we will be able to find it early, hopefully,” Hinkley said. “Finding it early is the key. This is the thing I would stress to everybody, [with] early detection you can pretty much have a long and healthy life.”
“I had a three-month window of detecting that first one, that if I had waited another two or three months to find it, it probably would have been fairly significantly bad,” he said. “If I had waited another three months, it was going to be stage four. At that point it’s a coin flip of whether or not you are going to make it.”
Along with learning the importance of early detection, Hinkley said he’s also gained great respect and appreciation for the oncology staff at T.J. Regional Health Cancer Center, UofL Hospital and others. “They have so much empathy. They are so kind, and it has to be so hard because they are dealing with people who might not have much time left to live. I don’t know how they do that every day.”
Hinkley said the compassion of the cancer medical staff has inspired him.
“I told them if they ever have anyone who needs someone to talk to, give them my number. I will come sit with them through chemo,” he said.
__________________________________________________________
CARE Power Hour is an event to celebrate cancer survivors, their families, caregivers, providers, and friends. The lavender ribbon is a general symbol of awareness for all cancers. It serves as a unifying symbol, promoting empathy and support for anyone affected by cancer regardless of the specific type. Proceeds from CARE Power Hour directly benefit Community Medical Care’s Breaking Barriers to Care Program, which provides assistance to cancer patients for the most common barriers to care such as transportation and supplemental nutrition.
Comments