My Watch and My Wife Saved My Life

In 2014, I had a completely clean “first time” colonoscopy. After two previous bouts with cancer in my life in my late 20’s and early 30’s I was always diligent with my healthcare screenings. They told me to come back in 2024. Well, if I had taken that advice, I wouldn’t be here to share this message. I’m not trying to alarm you, but we all need to be aware. 

They call Colorectal Cancer, which we as a company are focusing on this month, the silent killer. The disease can progress aggressively with minimal or no symptoms until it is dangerously difficult to eradicate. I learned this lesson in a very odd way but thankfully the outcome of my story was a positive one.

I started wearing an Apple Watch when Santa Claus (working through his elves my wife Cristina and daughter Olivia) brought me one on Christmas Day in 2022. I wanted to be able to track my biometrics and work on getting in better shape. I began to get strange readings in early March of 2023. I was noticing the shortness of breath when exerting myself which was odd for me and then the A-FIB alerts appeared. First, I ignored them as nobody in my family had ever had any heart-related issues and my cardio health was always strong. They kept coming and we finally visited my primary care physician who referred me to a cardiologist. They wondered if I had sleep apnea and placed me on Eliquis thinking it would address the issue. What it did was accelerate a bleeding tumor in my colon. Within two weeks I was bleeding out internally and ended up in the emergency room. It wasn’t A-FIB. Instead, after a very quick surgery to remove an aggressive tumor positioned near the junction of my small and large intestine, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer. If I had gone but another month undiagnosed there is a strong chance this tumor would have spread to my liver and pancreas, and I would have been terminal. That Apple Watch and the diligence of my wife who demanded I seek the opinions of doctors and not ignore those alerts saved my life.

What followed was a grueling six plus months of a radical chemotherapy treatment expertly supervised by the Consultants of Medical Oncology and Hematology, now one of our 97.5 The Fanatic clients, I would need 12 rounds of double chemotherapy. Every other Wednesday, I went after my show and sat for a series of medication “bags” and then my one dose drip bag of Oxaliplatin. That process was about four hours. Then I was hooked through a port in my chest to a 30-hour pump that I wore to serve me my second chemotherapy which is aptly named “5-FU”. That combination cocktail was brutal but ended up saving my life.

My message this July is one of victory and hope. I survived, but this one snuck up on me. It was my third battle with this disease and the odds of being here to share this tale are quite low. Despite all my awareness, I didn’t know I had a killer lurking inside me and that I was a month from a death sentence.

If you feel off, don’t ignore it. If you are suddenly not having normal bowel movements and they persist, instead of being embarrassed just seek an opinion from your doctor. You can begin screening for Colorectal Cancer with at-home tests and if everything is normal you check back in a few years.  If not, you go see a doctor. There have been amazing breakthroughs that saved lives like mine, but you don’t want to experience my journey.

A now three-time cancer survivor, John Kincade once vowed that should he beat his cancer, he was going to quit his job in the business world and chase his dreams of becoming a sports talk host. Dreams do come true, and today John is the co-host of Co-host of Philadelphia’s morning show on 97.5 The Fanatic. He is passionate and vocal advocate for cancer research and awareness.