Progress Saved My Life From Kidney Cancer. Now We Must Keep Going.

I remember the night clearly. It was October 2015. The phone rang. It was my primary care physician. Her voice was calm, but direct.

“Chuck, we need to move fast. You have a large tumor in your right kidney.”

In an instant, my life changed. Everything narrowed. The room felt smaller. My mind raced ahead to words like cancer, surgery, survival. I wasn’t thinking about treatment innovation or clinical trials. I was thinking about my family. About what this all meant and about how much time I might have left.

Ten years ago, the outlook for advanced kidney cancer, particularly renal cell carcinoma, was far more uncertain than it is today. Long-term survival was not the expectation. Treatment options were fewer, and the statistics were scary and sobering.

Today, I am still here.

And I am here because research did not stand still.

Kidney Cancer Awareness Month, which was observed in March, is more than symbolic to me. The breakthroughs of the last decade didn’t just improve numbers in medical journals; they extended my life and the lives of many other kidney cancer patients.

A decade that changed the story

For years, kidney cancer was not a cancer you wanted to get. It was one of the least-understood cancers. There were not a lot of options. Research funding did not exist. To make matters worse, kidney cancer resisted traditional chemotherapy. Kidney cancer was a death sentence. Then the game changed as targeted therapies emerged, designed to block the blood vessel growth tumors depend on. That was meaningful progress.

But the real turning point was immunotherapy.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors transformed the landscape by helping the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells. Instead of simply slowing disease, these treatments began producing durable responses. Survival curves that once dropped steeply began to flatten.

Then combination therapies, pairing immunotherapy with targeted agents, pushed outcomes even further. Progression-free survival improved. Overall survival improved.

Physicians gained the ability to tailor treatment strategies rather than relying on a limited set of options.

Those improvements are not abstract to me.

They are the reason I have had more time, more conversations, more milestones, more ordinary days that now feel extraordinary.

Changing the conversation after surgery

One of the most significant advances has been the approval of immunotherapy after surgery for patients at high risk of recurrence. For years, patients underwent surgery and then waited, living scan to scan with few options to reduce the chance the cancer would return.

Now, adjuvant immunotherapy has been shown to reduce recurrence risk and improve survival.

For patients and families, that changes the emotional landscape. It replaces passive monitoring with proactive treatment. It gives people something more than hope. It gives them a plan.

That is what real progress looks like.

Why advocacy cannot slow down

The progress of the last decade happened because patients enrolled in clinical trials. Because researchers like Dr. Bill Kaelin and Clinicians like Dr. Toni Choueiri pushed beyond conventional thinking. Because advocacy groups like KidneyCAN refused to let kidney cancer remain overlooked and drove the necessary funding that finally supported innovation.

Kidney cancer impacts over 80,000 people in the United States each year. Close to 15,000 people die from kidney cancer in the United States each year. Yet historically, research funding has not always reflected its impact.

We cannot confuse progress with completion. Do the math: that’s over 40 people per day that we lose from this disease.

There are still patients who do not respond to first-line therapies. There are still aggressive forms of this disease. There are still disparities in access to cutting-edge treatment and clinical trials.

The next generation of breakthroughs, novel immunotherapy combinations, HIF-2α inhibitors, biomarker-driven strategies and more personalized approaches is already emerging. But continued advancement depends on sustained research funding, expanded trial participation and strong patient advocacy.

If progress saved my life, imagine what continued progress could mean for the next person who receives a phone call like I did that October night.

From survivor to advocate

Living with kidney cancer changes you.

It teaches you that survival statistics represent real people, parents, spouses, children, friends. It teaches you that cancer impacts real families. Every incremental improvement in survival translates into time: time to watch all your daughters graduate from high school and college, time to celebrate more anniversaries with your high school sweetheart, time to walk your daughters down the aisle and more importantly time to watch your grandchildren born.

I am profoundly grateful to the scientists and clinicians whose work has extended my life. Without people like Dr. Bill Kaelin, Dr. Toni Choueiri and the amazing team at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, I am probably not here.

But gratitude is not enough.

We must:

• Increase dedicated funding for kidney cancer research.
• Expand and promote access to clinical trials.
• Ensure equitable access to emerging therapies.
• Strengthen awareness and patient education efforts.
• Empower newly diagnosed patients with information about evolving treatment options.

Progress should not depend on geography, income or luck.

We are not done.

That night in October 2015, when I heard the words “We need to move fast,” I did not know what the next decade would hold.

What I know now is this: Progress driven by research and funding saved my life.

Kidney Cancer Awareness Month should be more than recognition; it should be a renewed commitment.

The last 10 years prove what is possible when research is prioritized and patients’ voices are heard.

I am alive because innovation did not stop.

Let’s make sure it never does.

This piece reflects the author’s personal experience and perspective. For medical advice, please consult your health care provider.

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