Karl Mirkes
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Sadly, On March 26, 2020 Karl lost his battle with cancer. The BTB family was honored to know Karl and help him through his fight. We'll remember Karl at our annual events!
Here's what Karl posted for his page during our 2017 event: It was cold and sunny February 16, 2016 and my wife, Judy Fox, and I were headed out a day early to begin celebrating her birthday on the 17th. I had taken the day off and we made plans to just enjoy a day together. Well, we spent the day together but not in the way that we imagined. I was a little winded when we left the house and Judy asked if I was okay. Of course, I said yes, but my breathing did not improve. Judy, who has taken care of me and many other people over the years, knew something was wrong. We hung a right at the junction and headed for Silver Cross Hospital. By the time we arrived, my blood oxygen levels were way down and my blood pressure was so low it couldn’t be read by the automatic reader. I was put into an ER bay and had a series of tests including a Chest X-ray. I was admitted. After three or four days of being poked, prodded, drained of numerous vials of blood and loaded with several different anti-biotic combinations, I was told I could go home. The diagnosis was atypical Pneumonia. What? Not normal Pneumonia? Hmmm. I went to see my Pulmonologist and he ordered another test to see if some spots from the first x-ray, which were interpreted as Pneumonia, were gone. They were not. |
Next, I was to see an Interventional Radiologist. Wow, an intervention, was I listening to too much radio? But, that would be a Radio Interventionologist, right? It’s complicated. Anyway, before he would see me he wanted to have a CT scan of my abdominal area to look at. I went for the results and the nurse came into the waiting room and called out, "Karl Mirkes". The hairs on my head literally stood up, all sixteen of ‘em. The Doctor came into the exam room. Yep, you guessed it. The “C-Word” came thundering out at me. You have Renal Cell Carcinoma with metastasis to the right lung, aka - Stage 4 Lung Cancer.
This RCC is an insidious little rat. It shows no symptoms until it is really far along. Mostly, if discovered early, it is discovered “by accident”, when the Doctor is looking for something else.
In 2006, my Dad died of Colon Cancer. It was three weeks to the day from diagnosis to death. I miss him so much! Well, I started to think that I didn’t have much time left. Stage 4 Lung Cancer (RCC) would probably move fast. Thankfully, I have Judy giving love and support to me, along with our son, Eric, my Mom, my big sister, Melody and Tank, my American Bulldog buddy, who, as we just learned, has cancer, too.
I received several opinions from various Doctors as to whether I should have my right Kidney and the almost football sized tumor surrounding it removed. It was three to one in favor of removal. They told me, “You only need one kidney anyway.” So, in July I had the surgery. Three weeks later I started taking a newer Chemo drug called, Votrient.
Votrient is in a class of drugs called VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor, inhibitors. It’s a mouthful to say and costs a mountain of cash to obtain. For January, 2017, the bill was $10,500.00, up some from the 2016 cost. I also take 13 other drugs for my various afflictions. Coupled with office visits and labs from my Primary Physician and four Specialists, not including the Oncologist, the bills are starting to weigh on my mind.
My friends, many of whom are fighting cancer themselves, are truly wonderful and I continue to receive their love and support. I just can’t believe how many of us are facing cancer at this same time! I pray for everyone to win the fight.
The greatest weight has been on my wonderful wife and son. They want to say, as I do, thanks to Tom and Bill and all the people that give freely of themselves with time, energy, money and dedication to help relieve some of the stress, emotional and financial, that Cancer Families face.
Thank you BTB Foundation!!!
This RCC is an insidious little rat. It shows no symptoms until it is really far along. Mostly, if discovered early, it is discovered “by accident”, when the Doctor is looking for something else.
In 2006, my Dad died of Colon Cancer. It was three weeks to the day from diagnosis to death. I miss him so much! Well, I started to think that I didn’t have much time left. Stage 4 Lung Cancer (RCC) would probably move fast. Thankfully, I have Judy giving love and support to me, along with our son, Eric, my Mom, my big sister, Melody and Tank, my American Bulldog buddy, who, as we just learned, has cancer, too.
I received several opinions from various Doctors as to whether I should have my right Kidney and the almost football sized tumor surrounding it removed. It was three to one in favor of removal. They told me, “You only need one kidney anyway.” So, in July I had the surgery. Three weeks later I started taking a newer Chemo drug called, Votrient.
Votrient is in a class of drugs called VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor, inhibitors. It’s a mouthful to say and costs a mountain of cash to obtain. For January, 2017, the bill was $10,500.00, up some from the 2016 cost. I also take 13 other drugs for my various afflictions. Coupled with office visits and labs from my Primary Physician and four Specialists, not including the Oncologist, the bills are starting to weigh on my mind.
My friends, many of whom are fighting cancer themselves, are truly wonderful and I continue to receive their love and support. I just can’t believe how many of us are facing cancer at this same time! I pray for everyone to win the fight.
The greatest weight has been on my wonderful wife and son. They want to say, as I do, thanks to Tom and Bill and all the people that give freely of themselves with time, energy, money and dedication to help relieve some of the stress, emotional and financial, that Cancer Families face.
Thank you BTB Foundation!!!
