Caris LeVert had successful surgery to treat Renal Cell Carcinoma (cancer)
Caris LeVert had successful surgery to treat renal cell carcinoma (a common form of kidney cancer) as per a tweet by the Pacers. He is expected to make a full recovery.
https://twitter.com/Pacers/status/1354142081665667074?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Sucks it was cancer, but sounds like good news overall.
January 26th, 2021 at 2:22 PM ^
Of the different cancers to get, a small RCC is not the worst. It can be treated definitively and if small like in this case can probably save most of that kidney. Wish it was not cancer but overall he should be fine.
January 26th, 2021 at 2:25 PM ^
Fuck cancer!
January 26th, 2021 at 2:27 PM ^
Thanks for posting. Hopefully he experiences a fast recovery.
January 26th, 2021 at 2:27 PM ^
Anyone know the recovery time for this type of surgery?
January 26th, 2021 at 3:37 PM ^
When I read your comment, all I could think of was "Any chance for this season?"
January 26th, 2021 at 5:26 PM ^
That would be wonderful but I was thinking more of getting ready for next season. I don't know if that is a reasonable timeframe.
January 26th, 2021 at 7:48 PM ^
Yo, this is just a semi-educated guess because so much of it will depend on the size of what they found and how they had to approach resecting it (partial versus total removal of the kidney). Also, I'm not a surgeon but care for a lot of patients who get pretty invasive oncology surgeries and I'd hazard a guess he'd be back on the court with in a couple months, probably doing light conditioning before that.
January 26th, 2021 at 2:28 PM ^
Hope it turns out not to be.
I had a similar story a couple years ago, 75-80 percent cancerous, had surgery to remove it, turned out not to be cancer. Hoping for the same for Caris.
January 26th, 2021 at 2:29 PM ^
Shams just tweeted he won’t require any further treatment. Harden’s selfishness legit saved Caris’s life. Woah.
January 26th, 2021 at 4:44 PM ^
Yeah, I was thinking "thank god for the Harden trade"
January 26th, 2021 at 5:50 PM ^
Never imagined one day I'd say Thank you, Harden.
January 27th, 2021 at 12:02 AM ^
Just listened to the sports report on NYC's Channel 4 news, and longtime sports anchor Bruce Beck ended his broadcast with a huge loving smile as he reported the good news, saying (and showing) how much Caris is loved, and always will be loved by Nets fans, and of course adding that if it weren't for the trade he might not have found out until it was too late. All while keeping that big warm grin to show how much he's still loved here and will be eagerly watching him play (even if for the other guys).
January 26th, 2021 at 2:29 PM ^
lucky he got traded! not sure what the yearly medicals are like for roster players, but the Pacers probably went the extra mile to verify Caris' health was 100%
glad they caught this early
January 26th, 2021 at 11:47 PM ^
I am so happy for Caris and his loved ones. It’s a hard thing to experience. One of the good things to come out of the quantum advances in molecular biology from throwing bales of research money at COVID-19 will be taking the cancer fight to the beast directly. mRNA isn’t just for viruses.
January 26th, 2021 at 2:33 PM ^
Will be praying for a fine recovery. My son had cancer when he was 16, he's now almost 40.
January 26th, 2021 at 2:34 PM ^
I feel like I need a yearly full-body MRI to have any level of comfort I don't have a tumor growing somewhere.
January 26th, 2021 at 3:02 PM ^
You're probably only half-joking, but CTs and MRIs have lots of specific protocols when looking for certain specific things. A whole body CT scan with contrast is probably the best "screening" tool but even then the timing or phase of the contrast can cause certain tumors or whatever to be missed. BUT it's also radiation so there is a very complex risk-benefit ratio plus add in things that you won't see in a certain phase and the costs of healthcare and you can see why it's not done regularly as a screening tool.
January 26th, 2021 at 3:11 PM ^
I was half joking, but the other half worries about how easily you can get to advanced stages with little to no symptoms and not have it be detected with a routine physical.
January 26th, 2021 at 4:10 PM ^
there's an intriguing blood test that may help detect a whole bunch of cancers way before conventional medicine/screenings would find them
January 26th, 2021 at 7:42 PM ^
Not to mention the possibility of discovering an incidental-oma that either requires an invasive biopsy or sitting around nervously waiting for a followup scan (that will come with yet more radiation, as you astutely mentioned). Don't feel too bad about missing out on regular full body imaging UPMichigan, you might be better off not knowing (though in this instance, amazingly fortunate for Caris, can't wait to see him back on the court).
January 26th, 2021 at 2:51 PM ^
Treat that cancer like little brother and take it to the woodshed!
January 26th, 2021 at 2:58 PM ^
That's good news.
Almost 5 years cancer-free myself, bladder tumor.
January 26th, 2021 at 2:58 PM ^
Now this is something to celebrate!
January 26th, 2021 at 3:02 PM ^
#FuckCancer
But so happy they caught this and Caris will have a full recovery.
January 26th, 2021 at 3:23 PM ^
This is AWESOME! Yes, FUCK CANCER!
January 26th, 2021 at 3:30 PM ^
I wonder if South Quad dorm food caused it? HA!
Glad it was treatable. Cancer sucks.
January 26th, 2021 at 3:38 PM ^
I hope not...
January 26th, 2021 at 3:52 PM ^
Wow, he's already faced a lot in his young life. Thank goodness things look okay on this front.
January 26th, 2021 at 4:22 PM ^
jesus, i honestly can't think of a single athlete that's had a longer run of bad luck in terms of injuries and illness.
i'm not kidding. i can't think of anyone.
i'm really glad they caught it early.
January 26th, 2021 at 4:28 PM ^
I would be curious why they did an MRI in the first place. Is a scan standard for these pro-sport physicals or I wonder if he had a lab which was off, with RCC can cause.
It's so rare to find RCC in a young otherwise healthy male like Caris, just one of those freak luck of the draws. Glad the surgery went successfully and hopefully should have a full recovery.
January 26th, 2021 at 4:57 PM ^
Glad they caught it and hopefully removed it all. Wish him the best in a speedy recovery.
January 26th, 2021 at 4:58 PM ^
I'm a renal cancer survivor coming up on twenty years cancer free (and down 1 kidney). The advice I got post-op was no kick boxing or moto-x - which was the urologist telling me to take care of my one remaining kidney.
January 26th, 2021 at 5:07 PM ^
Thank god! Hopefully it’s completely gone and he doesn’t have to worry about this again
January 26th, 2021 at 5:23 PM ^
Excellent news
January 26th, 2021 at 5:40 PM ^
Fuck cancer.
Best wishes to Caris!
January 26th, 2021 at 6:11 PM ^
Caris is the man, battles through so much, time and time again. Get well big fella.
January 26th, 2021 at 6:38 PM ^
Get well, Caris.
January 26th, 2021 at 6:58 PM ^
Good for Caris... fuck cancer!
January 26th, 2021 at 7:22 PM ^
Excellent news. I'm not a doctor and I didn't sleep at a Holiday Inn last night but I hope he doesn't play again until after the global Covid threat has been mitigated. #NegAway
January 26th, 2021 at 10:13 PM ^
By the sound of it he was not considered an at-risk type. Just goes to show you that cancer never plays by the rules.
January 26th, 2021 at 10:49 PM ^
I don't think it's that rare.I have seen several cases. Usually found after workup for trace amounts of blood in the urine. I imagine that is what caused the medical team to look further.
January 27th, 2021 at 6:18 AM ^
Wait, but I read it on the internet!