Donn Young is a biostatistician who survived stage 4 prostate cancer

Donn Young is the former director of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center Biostatistics Unit where he spent 32 years designing, conducting, and analyzing cancer research studies.

Like former President Joe Biden, I was recently diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer.

It was a sunny Thursday morning in March when I received a phone call from Dr. William Lee, a radiologist at Ohio State University, to tell me that one of the bone metastases had increased in size.

Since my cancer had spread to many bones, the cancer was deemed incurable and my prognosis was not good even though I had no symptoms.

In fact, the median survival for men like me with advanced prostate cancer at the time of diagnosis was 30 months —so I had less than a 50-50 chance of living three years.

When I was diagnosed, I was a biostatistician designing and analyzing clinical trials at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

I had co-authored journal articles on prostate cancer so I knew that with bone metastases my chances were not good and that there was no treatment that offered a cure.

I had just completed a grant funded by the National Cancer Institute to increase the enrollment of minorities on clinical trials. Dr. William Hicks, a local oncologist, and I encouraged people with a cancer diagnosis that if they were eligible, a clinical trial was their best bet.

It was now my turn to step up and volunteer for an experimental study.

A flip of a coin

Dr. Steven Clinton, a friend, colleague, and urologic oncologist at OSU, enrolled me on a randomized trial, where my treatment was selected by flipping a coin. I began treatment with hormone ablation therapy to decrease testosterone that was fueling the growth and spread of my cancer.

That was in 2007 - 18 years ago. My cancer was very sensitive to hormonal control. And while I have had no evidence of residual cancer for many years, I continue the treatment started years ago.

The clinical trial ended a decade ago with my treatment being found to be the better of the two treatments being tested. I was very lucky to be one of the few long-term survivors of this disease. Unfortunately, there is still no way to determine at the time of diagnosis who will do well and who will not.

What's really important

My late wife, Phyllis Kaldor, who was a director of nursing at OSU’s James Cancer Hospital, had planned to care for me during my final days. She, however, developed metastatic cancer of the appendix. Thus, it fell to me with the help of family and friends to care for her until she passed away in 2013.

A cancer diagnosis focuses one’s attention on what’s really important and it’s not money, power, and prestige.

It comes down to love and connections with family and friends. Despite the loss and grief that we all come to experience, I have learned that it’s really the small things that matter: a kiss from someone who loves you more than anyone else, a smile from your children, and a giggle from your grandchild.

Bringing joy to your life might include chatting with neighbors, enjoying the company of new and old friends, creating something with your hands, and learning to play a ukulele (or lesser instrument).

Like for all of us following a cancer diagnosis, Biden’s journey will be uniquely his own, but given the strength, resilience, and grace he has shown in the past, I am confident that he and his family will continue to have hopes for the future and love for one another.

Our best wishes go with him.

Donn Young is the former director of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center Biostatistics Unit where he spent 32 years designing, conducting, and analyzing cancer research studies. He now spends his time seeing his daughters, helping care for his grandsons, 2-year-old James Patrick and 9-month-old Lincoln, travel with his sweetie, making pottery, kayaking, playing his ukulele (John Prine’s his favorite), and birding.