“At Fox Chase, they made cancer a little less scary. When I was there, I knew I was in the best place I could be. I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else.”‐Jay Comly
Ten years ago, I figured I was the healthiest guy around. But one day, in the fall of 2013, I was working in my backyard with my son, and I got a pain in my side. I thought I had pulled a muscle, so I sat down for a bit and it went away. But when I went to work again, it came back.
I went to a local emergency room. “We see something – you should go to your family doctor and a urologist,” they said. I followed their advice, starting with my family doctor, and he told me I needed to see a urologist right away. The urologist ran more tests. “You need to go to Fox Chase Cancer Center, and this is who you need to see,” he told me. He recommended Dr. Alexander Kutikov, a urologic oncologist.
Well, we made an appointment, and when we first got to Fox Chase, I told my wife, “I’m going to want to get a second opinion. I don’t want to want to just go to one place and that’s that.”
Then we met with Dr. Kutikov. When we sat down and talked to him, he just made us feel so comfortable. You can tell he knows what he’s doing just from talking to him. He’s very knowledgeable. And from the beginning, when we met the staff, they were so friendly and helpful. I had the feeling that this was where I needed to be.
As soon as we left there, I said, “We’re not going anywhere else. We’re not wasting time. This is the guy I want. This is the guy we need.” We stayed with Dr. Kutikov, and I’m so glad we did.
Switching Gears
It turned out I had a tumor on my ureter, the tube that moves urine from the kidney to the bladder, and the outside of my left kidney. It was one tumor that wrapped around everything.
I went in to have Dr. Kutikov perform a biopsy on a Friday in early November, but he couldn’t do it. The tumor was wrapped so tightly around everything that he couldn’t get in. He scheduled surgery for the following Thursday. Well, by Sunday, the pain was so bad, I was like, “Just shoot me.”
We called Dr. Kutikov. “Alright, we’re switching gears,” he said. “We’ll do surgery in the morning.” And that’s what we did. That was Monday, November 11, 2013. Dr. Kutikov removed the tumor – it was major surgery – and then we did chemotherapy for three months.
After that, everything seemed OK. That is, until the next visit, when Dr. Kutikov found some small tumors on my bladder. He took them off, and then the next month he found a couple more tumors on the bladder, and he took those off, too. Those were all minimally invasive procedures.
And then we did immunotherapy, which uses the body’s immune system to fight cancer and was pretty new at the time. I did that for two and a half years, but I’ve been good ever since. I’ve had 11 years cancer free.
At this point, I just follow up with Dr. Kutikov every June. And as for my treatment, as far as I’m concerned, everything went like clockwork. It went just like I thought it should.
You know, any cancer diagnosis is frightening, that’s for sure. It scares the daylights out of you. But at Fox Chase, they made cancer a little less scary. When I was there, I knew I was in the best place I could be. I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else.
Pedaling for Progress
After my experience at Fox Chase, I felt that I needed to give back. That feeling led me to get involved with the annual American Cancer Society Bike-A-Thon from the Ben Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia to Atlantic City, New Jersey.
When I first started doing the ride, it was just my daughter Kristin and me. Each year, we’ve added a rider or two. Last year, we fielded a team of 13. We raise money by getting sponsors and giving out calendars in exchange for donations.
Between 2016 and 2023, we raised $53,810 to support research in clinical urology. Each year, we present Dr. Kutikov with a check. We’ve told him we just want the money used wherever it will do the most good, and he has donated it to CURE—Clinical Urology Research Endeavors.
It’s 66 miles from Philadelphia to Atlantic City, and every year it gets a little tougher to make that ride. But we keep it up. It’s worth it.
“Full Steam Ahead”
I think part of making it through a cancer diagnosis is having the right outlook. When my wife and I walked out of the first urologist’s office years ago, I said, “You know what? Full steam ahead. It’s a speed bump. We’re going to get through it.” I believe you have to have a positive attitude. You can’t say, “Oh, woe is me.” Always look forward.
Of course, it also helps to have the right care. When I talk to someone who has had a cancer diagnosis, I always tell them, “Go to Fox Chase and get an opinion.” I highly recommend them to everybody. Absolutely.
Learn more about treatment for uretal cancer and bladder cancer at Fox Chase Cancer Center.