New York Man’s Double Vision During Commute Revealed Stage IV Kidney Cancer

Joe Gillette noticed double vision in one eye while driving on a three-lane highway that had widened to four lanes during his morning commute. The New York 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 recommended a brain scan.

The specialist diagnosed nerve damage in his right eye, but Gillette proceeded with the scan anyway because of his decade of volunteering with the American Cancer Society. On his 57th birthday, the scan showed cancer with tumors in the kidney, lung, brain, and stomach. His doctor confirmed Stage IV kidney cancer.

Two tumors were located in his brain, and additional scans found tumors in his bones, lymph nodes, lungs, and pancreas. A biopsy established that all tumors were metastases from the kidney. Gillette had experienced no symptoms until the double vision appeared.

"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 in New York City, started Gillette on immunotherapy, followed by radiation and brain surgery.

The surgery required a 10-week medically induced coma. When Gillette woke, he attempted to leave his hospital bed for the restroom and learned from a nurse that two and a half months had passed. After physical and occupational therapy, Gillette received additional radiation therapy.

Dr. Voss said the tumors shrank. Two years of immunotherapy followed, which Gillette said produced no major side effects. In April 2024, he underwent surgery to remove the original kidney tumor and was discharged three days later.