Guest Post from Casey Leach, Friend, Teammate, Cancer Survivor

I asked my friend, Casey Leach, to share a guest post about his journey.  He is one of the best natural leaders I've ever known.  I would like to thank him for sharing his personal story with you today...

Casey Leach with his mother, celebrating family time

• This is my short story:

October 24th, 2012, a day that will be remembered. The year 2011 was a joyous year for me as I was finishing out school at the University of Kansas, starting my internship with a company called Midwest Sports Productions, and looking forward to a career in the sports industry. In January of 2012, I was working at Costco and suddenly had an episode of extreme pain where it felt like I was being stabbed in the back with a knife. This was unexpected and I had to be rushed to the ER to figure out what was going on. After some pain medications and a CT scan of my abdomen, the doctor diagnosed it as external muscle spasms and after examining the CT scan, my parents and I had one question, “What was the small black circle located by my intestines?”. The doctor didn’t seem too worried about it and we moved on. Fast forward four months and my second youngest brother, Corey, was now being deployed off to war in Afghanistan. This definitely was a hard time for all of us because we didn’t know when he would be back or what was going to happen. All we could do was be positive and pray that he made it back safely. 

As another four months passed, it was a chilly, Saturday, September morning and I was out at the ball fields tournament directing a kids baseball tournament. It was about 730 am when I read a daunting Facebook post from my brother's best friend that said “keep Corey in your thoughts and prayers”. I called my mom immediately and the news spread like a wildfire. Corey and a few other military personnel were hit and injured by a roadside IED bomb and he was in critical condition at the time. News a family never wants to hear. To make things worse, I started having extreme back pains that same weekend, but I set those pains aside as I was more concerned and worried for my brother's health and safety. As the next month went on, Corey got shipped back to the U.S. and stationed in Texas where he was able to fully recover, leaving him with only multiple scars and a partially blind left eye (what a blessing).  As Corey was recovering, my pains only got worse. I began seeing a chiropractor to see if that would help, but it only helped in the short term and the back pains would come back after a day. After about a month and a half of grueling back pains, I couldn’t take it anymore and I went to the ER on October 24th, 2012 after I couldn’t sit, stand, walk, eat, etc for about a week prior. The initial diagnosis was deemed as gallbladder stones, but that wasn’t the case when the CT scan came back. Doctors had found a 16-cm diameter tumor lodged by my kidney. What was this? Where did it come from? After multiple tests and surgeries, the doctors found out I had a small tumor on my left testicle and then metastasized near my kidney, causing a massive tumor. That little black circle we saw back in January of that year turned out to be the first sign of my rapidly growing tumor making its presence in my body! 

The first two and a half weeks in the hospital were hell for me. I immediately went through multiple surgeries, CT scans and doctors started me on intensive cycles of chemotherapy and blood transfusions.  To get an understanding of the size of this tumor, AFP is a tumor marker to measure cancerous tumors and a patient is considered severely sick at 10,000. Doctors diagnosed me at around 37,000 …. We couldn’t believe it. Doctors told my parents if they didn’t act quickly, they could start to see my organs failing and shutting down, so there was no time to be wasted. 

The nights got long and sleepless, waking up to constant pains and vomiting from the side effects of the chemo drugs. I lost my appetite for any kind of food and if I was able to eat, it would come right back up. I got pricked and pocked daily with chemo injections and blood being drawn to check my AFP numbers and blood counts. Days were spent lying in a hospital bed, only getting up to walk around for about 20 mins and/or standing next to the window, gazing out and wondering if I was going to make it the next day. Most days were spent alone and when my family/friends were able to come to spend a few hours with me, it lit a fire inside of me. I couldn’t give up and this wasn’t how my story was supposed to end as a young 23-year old. 

I was released from the hospital two and a half weeks later after my diagnosis and I couldn’t believe who I was looking at in the mirror. I went into the hospital weighing just shy of 240lbs and left at 185lbs, skin ghostly white, no muscle or hair. Most days at home were spent lying in a recliner as it would take all of my energy just to climb a set of six stairs. During the next two months, I endured extensive rounds of chemotherapy, more blood transfusions, losses of appetite, and no energy for the simplest of activities like walking (we really do overlook the things that are simple to us when we’re in a healthy state!). After my last round of chemotherapy in January, good news finally came and all of the drugs that were being pumped through my body seemed to have paid off! My AFP was finally hovering around 15, 15! It went from 37,000 at the end of October to 15 by the middle of January. There was a light at the end of the tunnel! About a week later, I, unfortunately, caught strep throat due to my low immune system and had to have another week's stay in the hospital. During this time, my blood work was run and my AFP numbers actually started to climb. Without any hesitation, my oncologist made the decision to send me to Indiana University to have what was left of my tumor removed. On Valentine's day 2013, I’ve never cried so hard before going into an open table surgery. I was terrified! All I wanted to do was hold my mom because even though the surgery was two and a half hours, my mind kept wondering what would happen if I never woke up and this was the last time I saw my mom’s face. Thankfully, everything turned out well and the doctor was able to remove the rest of my tumor and any lymph nodes around my kidney without complications. When I had my staples removed two weeks later, my oncologist ran my blood work and my AFP was now down to 8 (under 10 is considered healthy). I was filled with excitement and never thought it would be that low again. The oncologist stated that it would take a few years to get back to full health, but I made it very clear to him that I would come back, full force within six months! And by god I did! 

About a year later, I was able to land a job at Costco’s headquarters in Issaquah, WA, and was able to spend three years there learning about our buying side of the business. I then had an opportunity to come back to KC as a Supervisor for the new North Kansas City building that I’m currently at now (as a manager). After being back for about four months, I was able to get promoted to a Marketing Manager for Costco at the new Lincoln, NE store and this is where Michael and I’s paths crossed. This man has made a great impact on my life and I’ve been able to request his help for other openings that I’ve been a part of. A tremendous man he is.

During these times, I had to continually do follow-ups every few months to every six months as the years went on. When I was in Seattle, the doctor there told me she wanted to monitor me for more than a decade and that didn’t sit well with me. In my heart, the only way I knew I was going to bury this nightmare was to walk away from it all, but I did what the doctor wanted me to. After making it back to KC, I had all of my information sent back to my original oncologist and continued follow-ups here. In May of 2018, I received the best and most unexpected news of my life. I went for a routine follow-up of my blood work and after going over it with my oncologist, he looked me dead in the face and said “I don’t know why I’m still seeing you. To be honest, I don’t ever want to see you again.” It took me a few seconds to register that information, but when it hit, tears poured out of my face faster than a hurricane hitting landfall. I couldn’t believe it! I walked out of that office, sat in my car, and out came tears of happiness … this nightmare that I thought would have never ended had finally come to a close! I could finally move on and bury that nightmare that all started on October 24th, 2012, a day that will always be remembered and thought about it for the rest of my life!

It’s such a blessing that Michael has asked me to share this part of my life (in a shorter version) and I truly hope that I can continue to touch and inspire the lives of hundreds, into thousands and maybe someday, millions of people with my story and leadership legacy!