Patient Story: Clint Melton

By Karen Pan

No Obstacle is Too Big

Clint Melton hasn’t always been a model of good health. He has struggled in the past with alcoholism and obesity, but Clint is not the kind of person who lets an undeserving thing get the best of him.

The married father of two, who resides in Phoenix, Arizona, had already conquered alcoholism when his doctor told him he must get his weight under control. Clint, who weighed 336 pounds at the beginning of 2010, began focusing on losing weight and becoming healthier. Through a focused exercise regime and improvements to his diet, Clint lost more than 150 pounds and weighed in at 180 pounds by early 2011. Clint accomplished the impressive goal by pushing himself every day and motivating himself with key phrases like “dedication” and “self pride”.

But Clint’s dedication to exercise did more good for his health than even he could have imagined. Not only did he lose weight and improve his overall health, but because of his exercise routine, he also discovered a cancerous tumor in his thyroid. One day at the gym Clint was blasting calories on the treadmill and using a towel to wipe down his face and neck, when he noticed an unusual lump on his neck. “If I hadn’t been exercising to lose weight,” explains Clint, “then I never would have found the cancer.”

At first, Clint wasn’t too concerned thinking it was related to his allergies, but soon he realized the lump was not normal. “First, it didn’t go away. Then, I started asking around, and none of my friends or family members had a lump like this,” he said. So he decided to get it checked out.

Clint started by visiting an ear, nose, and throat specialist, who performed an MRI and gave a scary diagnosis. Not only did Clint have a cancerous tumor in his thyroid, but he also had several other cancerous nodules in his neck. After digesting the news, Clint attacked the cancer the same way he approached other challenges – putting everything he had toward fighting it.

Clint found an endocrinologist who referred him to a surgeon to remove his entire thyroid along with the cancerous lymph nodes [Editor’s note: Lymph nodes in the neck are what the lay public often refers to as glands]. He soon needed a second surgery to remove additional tissue, before receiving radioactive iodine to destroy his remaining thyroid tissue and rid his body of any lingering cancer cells. “After receiving the radioactive iodine at the hospital, I locked myself in our guest room and bathroom and didn’t come out for three days,” he said about the treatment.

After overcoming so many obstacles, how is Clint doing today? As you would expect, he is doing very well. Clint takes medication daily to provide the thyroid hormone his body no longer produces, but otherwise lives a normal and healthy life with his wife and children. “It’s hard,” he says, “to have a young family and fight cancer. But it’s worth it.” Clint hopes his story will inspire others to fight, too.

Even today, Clint himself must continue to fight. Just before this story was written, a routine full body scan revealed that Clint still has some tumor remaining in his neck, as well as a tumor in his left lung. Just as he has fought and overcome other obstacles in his life, Clint is determined to beat this one, too.

What advice does Clint offer others, based on his own life lessons? “Don’t take your health for granted,” he says. “Get an annual check-up no matter what. I thought I was doing well by exercising and losing weight, but I was skipping regular check-ups with my doctor. The sooner you find something like cancer and treat it, the better off you will be.” The other lesson we can learn from Clint, even if he doesn’t say it out loud? Set your mind to something and put your heart into it, and you can accomplish anything!