Couple celebrates cancer remission – times two
Grateful for Baptist Cancer Center, they share their stories
Erle and Phil Schuyler have much to be thankful for — and Baptist Cancer Center tops the list. Both were diagnosed with cancer within a year, and today both are in remission. We spoke with Erle about the experiences she and her husband had with Baptist.
“I have friends who’ve traveled to other hospitals for cancer treatment,” said Erle. “One had her surgery rescheduled after she already bought plane tickets. I don’t know why anyone would go through the hassle of traveling when we have such great care here in Memphis.”
Erle already knew a thing or two about the excellent care at Baptist Memorial Health Care. Her father had throat and lung cancer and received pulmonology care from Dr. Emmel “Sunny” Golden Jr. at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis from 1990 to 1994. He spent the last three months of his life at Baptist Memphis under the care of Golden and Dr. Kurt Tauer.
Both Schuylers were diagnosed with cancer in a roundabout way. Doctors were looking for something else and happened to discover cancer incidentally.
“I went to my primary care physician because I felt like my heart was beating irregularly,” said Erle. “I have many friends with atrial fibrillation and wanted to get checked out. He ordered a heart CT and discovered a tumor in my kidney.”
Erle didn’t have any symptoms of renal cancer, and the incidental diagnosis meant the cancer was discovered in the earliest stage. Her treatment involved surgery to remove her kidney, which happened quickly. No additional treatment was necessary.
“I was diagnosed in February 2023, and my surgery was in May. Dr. Aleksandar Jankov is so kind and smart; he’s just a doll! Everything was very efficient. I’d get results from the follow-up tests in MyChart before I even got to my car after an appointment.”
Today, Erle is in remission and goes for renal scans every six months.
In 2021, Phil’s annual physical included a chest X-ray. His doctor noticed a small nodule in the upper lobe of his right lung. A nodule is a spot on the lung, which may be the result of infections or inflammation, or it may be a sign of cancer.
Baptist introduced a program for scenarios like Phil’s — the incidental nodule program ensures all images of the lungs are checked for nodules. Phil’s physician was Dr. Anurag Mehrotra, an interventional pulmonologist with Memphis Lung Physicians Foundation.
Phil was added to Baptist’s multidisciplinary program to monitor the size of his nodule. Every six months, he underwent a scan to check for changes. During his screening in March 2024, the nodule had more than doubled in size, and he was diagnosed with Stage II lung cancer.
The incidental nodule program leads to early detection and better outcomes. By the time someone has symptoms of lung cancer, the cancer is usually in a late stage. In Phil’s case, the cancer was caught before he had any symptoms and was much easier to treat.
Since 2015, Baptist has diagnosed 2,439 people with lung cancer through incidental scans.
Phil underwent surgery to remove the upper lobe of his lung, and that surgery took place even faster than Erle’s.
“It would’ve taken weeks or months to get all the scans, MRIs and tests if we went to another hospital,” said Erle, “but Phil had surgery one month after his diagnosis and was back to work a week later.”
He used supplemental oxygen 24 hours a day for nearly five months and had regular X-rays after surgery to monitor his lung tissue. When we spoke to Erle, the medical company was scheduled to pick up his oxygen equipment the next day. He will resume scans every six months but is cancer free.
“I can’t say enough positive things about both of our experiences,” said Erle. “Dr. Mehrotra is amazing. He was in New York when we learned the nodule had doubled in size. He called us while traveling to give us his cell number so we could reach him with any questions.”
To say the Schuylers are grateful for early detection would be an understatement.
“Because they caught our cancer early, the diagnosis was not a life sentence,” said Erle. “Baptist was on top of it through the scans and worked quickly. I wouldn’t go anywhere else.”
The stigma associated with lung cancer
There’s an unfortunate stigma attached to lung cancer, as many people assume it’s a disease that only affects smokers.
“Phil was never a smoker,” said Erle, “but when people heard he had lung cancer, they often assumed he’d been a heavy smoker at some point.”
According to the American Lung Association, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among both men and women, causing more deaths than breast, colon and prostate cancer combined. About 10% of lung cancer patients are nonsmokers.
For more information about Baptist Cancer Center, click here.
Click here to read about another patient Dr. Jankov treats: this 37-year-old mom is fighting metastatic breast cancer.
