Today I Am Cancer-Free

Guy Van Ort

• Hip pain led to diagnosis
• Stage IV pancreatic cancer
• Chemotherapy
• Surgery and ablation for hip and spine
• Persistent neuropathy

My name is Guy Van Ort and in 2019 I was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer—today I am cancer-free.

I was diagnosed in an unusual way. After many years with the same chiropractor, I had recently started seeing Janice, a new chiropractor closer to home. I was having recurring pain in my hip (and my stomach) and frequent visits to Janice were not helping. I previously had sciatica, and she was convinced that wasn’t the problem this time. She insisted I get an MRI, and even made the appointment for that day.

That’s when I got the shocking diagnosis. I had a very small tumor in the tail of my pancreas, but I also had fractures in each hip and three in my vertebrae. All of those locations had tumors that were also pancreatic cancer. In 1998, I lost my brother Otto to this dreadful disease. Progress has been made since then, so I was encouraged as I entered this new phase of my life. 

Treatment Time

I began treatment at Northside Hospital Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia, with Dr. Sreekanth Reddy (no longer at Northside), who came highly recommended by one of my friends. My treatment included three months of chemotherapy  with FOLFIRINOX as well as radiation. I also had OsteoCool radiofrequency ablation and kyphoplasty (to stabilize the fractures), two minimally-invasive procedures to treat the metastatic cancer that had spread to my hips and spine. Besides neuropathy (more on that later), I tolerated the treatments and procedures well.

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I am so grateful to have found my cancer early enough to treat it, and grateful to my oncologist, who created the proper treatment plan to fight the cancer.

Six Years Later . . .

I deal with painful neuropathy on a daily basis.  I have tried to find alternative treatments for it, but nothing is working yet. I try walking every day, despite the discomfort. I have type 1 diabetes, and I continually struggle to keep my glucose down and my A1c in check.

I get follow-up scans and tests with Dr. Syed Tariq Mahmood, who I also recommend. Emotionally, getting a CT scan every 90 days brings up anxiety about what the results might show, but from the very beginning I have held my faith in the plan, and I was okay with whatever the outcome would be. I committed to doing everything I could to fight this disease and everything the doctors prescribed, while relying on my faith in God for the rest. And I thank my guardian angel Janice for her insistence that I get the MRI in the first place.

My Advice

Get a second opinion. Go to an oncologist with a recognized specialty in the cancer you have. Join PanCAN and ask questions. Be ready for your life to change drastically. Ask for help. My coworkers set up a Meal Train for me for a couple of months so my husband and I could just reheat food since he was still working full-time. That helped a lot.

Let your body do what it needs to do and do not feel guilty for sleeping. I slept a LOT! Your body needs rest. Get a power recliner if you can. I have one. I didn’t have the strength to recline a manual chair, and a power recliner made a world of difference for my comfort.  I spent many hours in that chair and still use it to this day!  

Most of all, don’t be afraid to ask for help! My family is not nearby, so my friends stepped up to take me to chemo and doctor appointments.