Cory Katz’s life changed when he got the news he had cancer back in 2024.
“Why I went to the doctor is because I was experiencing some blood in my stool, and the doctor said it’s been so long you’ve been having this, why don’t we get you a colonoscopy and then I got my first colonoscopy and that’s when they found the tumor,” said Katz, an Avera patient.
Cancer Diagnosis at 34 Years Old
At only 34 years old at the time, to find out he had stage 3 rectal cancer came as quite a shock.
“When they told me my official diagnosis, I was scared, it was a really scary moment for me,” said Katz.
Cory met with Dr. Heidi McKean, Avera Medical oncologist, for treatment options. He enrolled in a clinical trial and underwent a combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Clinical Trial for Rectal Cancer
“He had six months of oral chemotherapy pills at the same time that he was getting radiation directed at the rectal tumor to shrink it down and then he landed on the arm of the clinical trial where he was going to get three IV chemotherapy drugs. The other arm of the clinical trial was our standard of care of two IV chemotherapy drugs, so he had actually randomized to the arm of the clinical trial that was more aggressive,” said Dr. McKean.
After completing treatment and taking time to recover, it was time to take some scans and see if the cancer had spread.
“What we saw was the rectal mass had really shrunk down to the point where we really couldn't see it well on the CT scans or MRI scans, and when the surgeon scoped him, he agreed. We had gotten this complete response, all that was left of this tumor after all of that treatment was just a white scar,” said McKean.
“They called it a complete clinical response so basically there’s no signs of my cancer via MRI or a colonoscopy,” said Katz. “I was very happy everything came out, I felt very lucky, too.”
By participating in the clinical trial, Cory is helping future cancer patients.
Helping Future Cancer Patients
“What we are hoping that means is that it will change the standard of care. Cory got on the experimental arm which was that additional drug of chemotherapy: the other arm was what our standard of care was and so this clinical trial hopefully will change standard of care, so we can be more aggressive with other patients in the future so we are grateful that Cory participated,” said McKean.
Being in his 30s when he got his diagnosis, Cory encourages others to take any unusual symptoms seriously.
“My advice would be not to ignore your symptoms, if something feels wrong, go get it checked out, even if you’re on your younger side,” said Katz.
Cory will be in surveillance for five years and will continue to meet periodically with his cancer team.
Learn more about cancer care and scheduling a colonoscopy at Avera.
