Finance director fighting cancer, too

Mike Eve's cancer came with little warning, just a nagging cough that refused to go away.

The cough finally drove him to the doctor in late July, and there it was on the X-ray, a shadow that would change his life. A subsequent CT scan showed sizable growths on his left kidney and liver, and numerous nodules on both lungs.

The diagnosis: stage 4 renal-cell carcinoma.

As the finance director for the city of Whitefish, Eve is used to things adding up. He makes sense out of numbers, but this was incomprehensible.

"I thought I could put it on the agenda and get solutions," he reflected. "I figured they'd open their arms and welcome me and try their best to cure me. I found it's not as simple as that."

Eve was quickly put in touch with an oncologist in Kalispell, then was told he needed to have his left kidney removed as soon as possible.

"I was still trying to grasp the situation," he said. "They said, 'If we do nothing at all, you'll have a life expectancy of six to seven months."

It was, he described, like climbing a mountain and hoping at some point to get to the top so he could see what was on the other side and come back down.

EVE SPENT time at the Seattle cancer center at the same time Whitefish Fire Chief Dave Sipe was getting treatment for his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Doctors at the University of Washington hospital removed Eve's kidney, but the growth on his liver was entwined with major blood vessels and inoperable. They told him his cancer was chronic and incurable.

This is where the optimist in Eve kicked in.

"No one mentioned terminal or hospice, so I want to make the point that if it's chronic and incurable, that doesn't equate to terminal," he said.

Up until that time, Eve and his family had been thinking in terms of cure. Now, it was a different ball game, but one he insisted would be played out with a positive attitude.

Eve's wife, Valerie, and their 9-year-old son, Dylan, stepped up to the plate to support him with love and laughter.

Eve remembers taking a walk with Dylan to explain he would be getting chemotherapy.

"Dad, does this mean you'll lose your hair?" his son inquired.

When Eve told him yes, Dylan's reaction was "cool."

"Within 45 minutes he was cheering me up. I call Val and Dylan my recovery team."

EVE IS taking an oral chemotherapy called Sutent, 28 days on and 14 days off. He's also part of a clinical trial being conducted through Oxford University in the United Kingdom, in which patients are given TroVax, a cancer immunotherapy product.

He flies to Seattle once every two weeks, taking a 6 a.m. flight that allows him to get to the hospital for the treatment and fly home in time for dinner. Eve will continue the TroVax injections until next April, when new CT scans will determine if the cancer is retreating or growing.

Eve went back to work at City Hall in September, within days of returning from his stay in Seattle.

"We decided in Seattle it was time to get back home and take our lives back," he recalled. "It was time to get in a regular routine."

He has cut back on the "tentacles" of life, the boards and committees that kept him busy in life before cancer.

"I prioritized my life to look out for my health, my family time and my core job," he said.

He's at the Wave fitness center every morning at 6 a.m. to build up his strength, and his diet is much healthier these days. All of these things, plus his faith "and a lot of prayers" will increase his chances of survival, he said.

Eve is taking the side effects of the treatment in stride. Sutent produces pain in the feet and hands, but it's tolerable.

Life boils down to two goals: quality of life and longevity, Eve said.

"Longevity - I don't know if that means 12 months or five years, but we have a lot of faith. We're confident we'll work through the situation."

Spontaneous remission of renal-cell carcinoma isn't unheard of, and that gives him hope.

Eve had gotten regular physical checkups, but renal-cell cancer isn't normally picked up without specific testing.

Like his colleague Dave Sipe, Eve may have had a genetic predisposition to cancer. Just a couple of weeks before Eve's kidney was removed, his uncle also had a cancerous kidney taken out. His father recently was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

"Most people are affected by cancer in some manner," he said. "From the onset we did really strive to have a good attitude. It's important to set a good example for others. People are so fearful of cancer, but it's important you know you can hit it head-on and deal with it."

Eve has been heartened as well by the prayers and support he's gotten from the community.

"I've heard so many success stories and gotten so many calls from people telling me to hang in there," he said.

So he is hanging in there, and says there's still plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

"You've got to live day by day," he said. "Now, as long as a guy wakes up and feels OK, it's a good day."

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com