Jeff, a NASA engineer and golf enthusiast, found himself working for the Apollo Space Program in Texas forty-five years ago. Jeff was involved in all of the Apollo/Saturn space launches up until the now infamous “Apollo 13” mission.
After his tenure with the Apollo Space Program, Jeff worked as a venture capitalist with various universities and companies to apply the technologies created for the space program to medicine and other parts of the economy. He worked with some of the major pioneering universities in the United States, including Stanford University where the first CyberKnife® System was created.
A few years ago, Jeff’s younger brother was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent surgery to remove the cancerous cells. Since his brother’s diagnosis, Jeff has been diligent in staying on top of his PSA testing. He continued to have a clean bill of health until a routine round of tests in November, 2008. Jeff’s PSA results came back higher than normal and after a biopsy determined he had a Gleason score of 6, he was diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer.
Jeff’s urologist at Overlook Hospital in Summit, New Jersey felt that surgery wasn’t a viable option for 72-year-old Jeff, and Jeff wasn’t interested in “watchful waiting”. Jeff was then offered three radiation treatment options: insert radioactive seeds into his prostate, conventional radiation therapy or CyberKnife radiosurgery.
“To me, I read these options as “slow, faster, fastest” as far as treatment times go,” Jeff said.
Wanting to get rid of the cancer as quickly as possible, Jeff opted for CyberKnife radiosurgery.
Jeff underwent five CyberKnife treatments during the course of a week. As there are minimal to no side effects with CyberKnife treatments, Jeff was able to maintain his daily routine during his treatments, including daily rounds of golf.
“The treatment was wonderful. No side effects, no problems, and, per my urologist, no cancer,” said Jeff.
Today, Jeff is cancer free and without the pressure of safely landing space shuttles, he is able to enjoy life and focus on improving his golf handicap.
As of the creation of this patient profile, Jeff found his CyberKnife treatment to be successful.
