David and Lisa Silas

At North Mississippi Medical Center Cancer Care, we connect our community to a highly-skilled team and advanced treatment options.

David and Lisa Silas of Saltillo have experienced the importance of the connected care provided by NMMC. Around Christmas-time in 2017, David started experiencing problems eating and drinking, and itchy hands and feet. One morning he woke up with yellowed skin and eyes, and went to the NMMC Emergency Department. A blockage in his bile duct was discovered, so he was referred to Digestive Health Specialists. Gastroenterologist Dr. Chris Decker performed a stent and biopsy procedure, and Silas was diagnosed with Stage 2 bile duct cancer. In January, he had surgery at UAB to remove the cancer. He then returned to NMMC Cancer Care for chemotherapy and radiation. Under the care of oncologist Dr. Jiahuai Tan, Silas began receiving chemotherapy infusions. “After four treatments, Dr. Tan read a new study that there was a chemo pill that could be beneficial for me, so he switched my treatment,” Silas said. He also received 30 radiation treatments at NMMC Radiation Oncology.

In October 2018, Lisa went for her annual mammogram at the NMMC Breast Care Center and was called back for additional views. “I wasn’t too nervous, because I had been called back for additional views before and it had always been nothing,” she says. This time, she needed an ultrasound and biopsy, and was eventually diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer. Surgeon Dr. Danny Sanders performed a lumpectomy and a test called oncotype to determine if her specific cancer would benefit from chemotherapy. She was referred to NMMC Hematology Oncology, where she requested Dr. Tan because of her husband’s good experience with him. She had eight rounds of chemotherapy and 20 rounds of radiation.

Now that both Lisa and David are finished with treatment, cancer-free, and on regular follow-up schedules, they are enjoying continuing their full-time work, working outside, fishing and spoiling their three dogs.

“We got to know everybody in the NMMC Cancer Care program, and we really feel like they care. They go out of their way to be kind and caring. We are thankful this kind of care is available in north Mississippi,” Lisa Silas says.

For more information, call (662) 377-4500 or visit www.nmhs.net/cancer.