Cancer warriors: Still ticking

Editor's note: This is the second story in a four-part series which examines the struggles, hopes and daily battles of several individuals in our community who are living with cancer and fighting back.

Melanoma. Carcenoma. Breast cancer. Prostate cancer. Stage 4 metastatic cancer of the spine.

You name it, Dr. Charles Clock has battled it.

The 80-year-old Coeur d'Alene resident is currently in the throes of his fifth fight with cancer. His first experience with the deadly disease was in 1987.

"We were standing in the kitchen on a Friday morning and I looked at him and I said, 'What is that awful thing on your arm?'" said Dorothy, 77, Charles' wife of 45 years. "It turned out to be melanoma."

The melanoma was removed and a skin graft was placed, and that was the end of that.

Until a squamous cell carcinoma was later found on his ear, but that was safely removed.

When prostate cancer struck, Charles had to get chemotherapy. Then he became one of the rare men who get breast cancer, and he received chemotherapy again and a mastectomy to get rid of that.

About a year and a half ago, the prostate cancer came back to haunt him in another form.

He and Dorothy were exercising in the Kroc Center and on the way out he told her he was in terrible pain. Doctors discovered a fracture in his vertebrae.

"When they did the MRI, they found the fracture but they also found a tumor on where it fractured," Dorothy said. "It truly was a blessing, otherwise we wouldn't have known that he had a growing cancer on his spine."

Through nearly 30 years of knowing cancer, Charles has stayed strong. He speaks softly and grins a lot, and certainly hasn't lost his sense of humor. He teases that he has his wife completely under control and playfully offers to sell his cat to guests for astronomical amounts of money. Dorothy, who is a career nurse, is always by his side and is a loving wife and caregiver, solid and never flinching at what lies ahead.

"I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for her," Charles said.

"We've had a wonderful life," Dorothy said. "We really have been very, very lucky."

Charles has five academic degrees and worked as a management and educational consultant. His career has taken him around the world and he and Dorothy have traveled extensively.

With all of the cancer treatments he has received through the years, he said one thing which really affects him is his trouble remembering things, what many cancer patients refer to as "chemo brain." He takes Xtandi, a prostate cancer medication, four times a day; it costs $7,000 for a bottle of 120 pills. He receives an infusion once a month and gets a treatment shot in the abdomen every three months.

"Most of the time, my problem is when I get so tired, and my brain just goes blank," he said.

Earlier this year, the Clocks contacted lung cancer survivor Jim Morrison, who has become a close friend and supporter for them both. He walks with Charles at the Kroc and is never shy about cheering him on.

"You're still going, Charles, that's the deal," Morrison said to Charles. "You could sit right there in that chair and everybody in the world would say, 'Oh, that's fine. You just stay right there because you're a cancer guy, you stay in your chair. But you don't stay in that chair, you go walk at the Kroc Center, and whether it's one lap or it's 100, you go. That's why you're a five-time cancer survivor."

Five blows from cancer and Charles is still ticking. That's why he is a cancer warrior.

"It never gets easier, and it's always scary, but I always feel he can beat it," Dorothy said. "I've never thought that this is going to get him."

Cancer patients and caregivers are invited to attend An Evening of Hope, a free community cancer support group in the Heart of the City church at 5 p.m. Sunday. The church is located at 521 W. Emma Avenue in Coeur d'Alene.

Info: 818-2266 or email toseeanothersunrise@gmail.com.