Councillor's brush with kidney cancer

Len is one of the thousands of kidney cancer survivors who didn't display any of the typical symptoms of blood in the urine, aching back, weight loss, tiredness or a lump in the abdomen.

Instead, Len found out about his tumour purely through incidental happenstance.

While attending a council function in November last year a piece of chicken got stuck his windpipe.

Len initially thought little of the incident, although his throat remained uncomfortable for more than a month.

Eventually wife Sue forced Len to visit the doctor for a check-up.

"The doctor thought it was probably still some scarring from the chicken but ordered tests to be sure," Len said.

Test results came back within two days giving the scratchy throat the all clear and a diagnosis of reflux, which could be fixed with medication and minor day surgery.

However, the tests had shown there was a shadow on Len's left kidney.

Just three days before Christmas and after further tests, a large tumour was discovered on the kidney.

"The specialist told me there was no need to rush in for an operation, I could enjoy Christmas; but he had booked me in for surgery at the end of January to have my kidney removed."

The kidney cancer diagnosis took Len aback, as he had no kidney cancer symptoms whatsoever.

"No back pain, no blood in the urine, nothing," he said.

"I was shocked and thanked God for bad chicken.

"If the tumour was not identified when it was, it was likely that my life would have been one of continual pain, as cancer therapy would probably not be an option."

That said, the surgery captured all the cancer, which turned out to be quite aggressive.

His other kidney is already functioning at 70 per cent of what both used to do.

Len spent five days in hospital and the day after coming home, celebrated by attending a council meeting.

"It was a bit of a struggle, but one must be positive and get back to doing normal things as soon as one can.

According to Kidney Health Australia there are currently five million adults at risk of developing chronic kidney disease due to risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity and being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin.

Alarmingly, most people are blind to kidney disease.

In fact, there are currently 1.5 million people in Australia who are unaware they already have early stages of kidney cancer.

While there is currently no screening for kidney cancer available in Australia, if you know the risks, you should take the test, Len advises.

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