New York Man Found to Have Stage IV Kidney Cancer After Double Vision Led to Scan

Joe Gillette noticed double vision in one eye while driving on a New York highway that had widened from three lanes to four. The 57-year-old resident had recently recovered from COVID-19 and booked a doctor’s appointment the same day. His physician referred him to an eye specialist and ordered a brain scan.

The specialist found nerve damage in his right eye, but Gillette proceeded with the scan anyway. He underwent the scan on his birthday. ” Gillette’s doctor later confirmed Stage IV kidney cancer. Scans showed two brain tumors plus tumors in his bones, lymph nodes, lungs and pancreas.

A biopsy established that all lesions were metastases from the kidney. Gillette had experienced no prior symptoms. “If it wasn’t for COVID, I wouldn’t have caught it,” he said. ” Dr. Martin Voss, his oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, started immunotherapy, followed by radiation and brain surgery.

The surgery required a 10-week medically induced coma. Gillette awoke after two and a half months and learned from a nurse that he had been unconscious far longer than he realized. After physical and occupational therapy, he received additional radiation.

The tumors shrank. Two further years of immunotherapy followed, with no major side effects reported by Gillette. In April 2024 he underwent surgery to remove the original kidney tumor and left the hospital three days later.

He now takes daily oral immunotherapy and meets Dr. Voss every six to eight weeks. Regular MRIs and endoscopies monitor for recurrence. Occasional new growths have been treated with targeted radiation.

Dr. Alpa Patel, senior vice president at the American Cancer Society and a friend of Gillette’s, noted that the therapies used did not exist a decade ago. Gillette continues to volunteer with the organization and focuses on family events, including the recent birth of his first grandchild and an upcoming wedding of another child.