Staff Writer

(Editor's note: Union County's American Cancer Society Relay for Life will be held May 30. Until that time, The Union Daily Times will publish stories about cancer survivors)

If it is time to undergo a colonoscopy, don't put it off.

That's the advice offered by cancer survivor Lewis O'Shields.

It is recommended by the American Cancer Society that the average person begin having a colonoscopy screening at age 50, with follow-up screenings every three to five years if polyps are found. Colon cancer is the third leading cause of cancer in the United States: Estimates suggest that 146,000 people were diagnosed with colon cancer in 2005 and 56,000 died from it. Screening tests, such as a colonoscopy, are very effective in detecting the disease, and the chance of surviving colon cancer is greatest when it is caught early.

O'Shields said he now believes he waited too long - his last colonoscopy was 15 years ago.

"If I had had a colonoscopy five years prior, I probably wouldn't have had this," he said. "I encourage everybody to have one. I think I didn't because of the fear factor - you don't want to know something you need to know."

O'Shields first began to suspect he had a health problem in February of 2007. He and his wife, Ann, love lighthouses and they were visiting the Savannah, Ga., area, including the Tybee Island lighthouse. O'Shields found he could not climb the metal circular staircase to the top.

"I told Ann, 'I just can't do it; I'm so tired,' he remembers.

He returned to work at Timken after a week's vacation and still felt bad. He went to see his family physician, Dr. David Keith. Thought to have a virus, O'Shields was hospitalized.

Though he still didn't feel well, O'Shields went back to work. Even his supervisor noticed his condition and told him to rest in the office or canteen. Being sick was so uncharacteristic of O'Shields, a Vietnam veteran who had joined the workforce at 14.

O'Shields went back to the hospital for more tests. He became ill after one procedure and a colonoscopy had to be cancelled. Keith recommended O'Shields see a specialist at Mary Black Hospital, Dr. Auburn Woods.

O'Shields underwent the colonoscopy on a Friday and was told to come to Woods' office for an appointment the following Wednesday. Ann and their daughter, Nikki Abee, went with him.

"He told me, Ann and Nikki that the polyps he had taken out were large and there was a mass in the upper part of my colon," O'Shields said. "He said it was cancer and it was huge."

Woods and a partner, Dr. Agai Srinivasan, performed surgery on O'Shields to remove the cancer. Next he was referred to oncologist Dr. Jay Bearden.

After consulting with Bearden, O'Shields agreed to be part of a study where three different types of chemotherapy was administered. O'Shields began the 12 treatments that May.

"It was rough," he said.

Part of the chemotherapy mix made it difficult for O'Shields to withstand cold.

"I couldn't drink anything cold, if I went out I had to wear gloves," said.

After the ninth treatment, the portion of the mix causing the cold intolerance had to be removed.

"I was losing more and more feeling in my hands and feet," O'Shields said. "Dr. Bearden said some people taking it ended up in a wheelchair and he didn't want that to happen to me."

O'Shields credits God and the three doctors -Keith, Bearden and Srinivasan, with saving his life.

He concluded his chemotherapy the first week in December.

"Four weeks ago I had a colonoscopy again," he said. "Dr. Woods came in and hugged me. He said he didn't see any cancer and pathology said there was no cancer."

O'Shields also will continue visits to Bearden every three months for a year.

"If it hadn't been for the good Lord, I couldn't have made it," O'Shields said. "He was really my rock."

His illness gave him more opportunities to be a Christian witness to others, O'Shields said. He remembers once sitting in a waiting room with his son-in-law, Chris, talking with a sick teen-ager.

"I told him that I didn't think the Lord was punishing us; He does things a lot of times to test the faith of our loved ones," O'Shields said.

O'Shields said he misses his job at Timken and hopes to be able to return to work. His illness caused him to miss out on some things he loves - being able to do things for his grandchildren, Paige, 15, and Cameron, 7; going to American Legion baseball games and Union County High School football games. Ann, a member of the Does, also missed out on activities because she was caring for him.

God knows the future, O'Shields said, and that was why He sent Ann to him. The two met at Cecil's Business School when O'Shields got home from Vietnam and they will celebrate their 37th anniversary in September.

"God sent her to me to be my angel," O'Shields said. "She took good care of me. She's a good wife, my best friend, everything."