Sterling Smith was active his entire life. Years ago, he was at Tom Brown Park with friends enjoying a game of racquetball when in the heat of their competition, he ran into the wall, causing a direct impact to his hip. He immediately felt pain, but kept playing thinking it was just the initial shock and would eventually dissipate.
Days later, the pain continued and he felt extremely sore and his wife insisted he go to their primary care doctor. After examination, a mass was found and he was referred to the Tallahassee Memorial Cancer Center, where he received radiation treatment from Philip Sharp, MD, Radiation Oncologist.
Sterling was healed until a turn of events years later when he felt significant pain in his right shoulder while lifting weights. He decided to take a break from exercising to help heal his arm but surprisingly, the pain persisted.
After eventually finding blood in his stool, Sterling visited his primary care doctor again to resolve his shoulder pain and discovered that he had another mass, this time in his shoulder, which led to the diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma.
Tim Broeseker, MD, Hematologist/Oncologist at Tallahasse Memorial Cancer Center, provided Sterling with induction chemotherapy that put his Multiple Myeloma into enough of a remission to allow for a stem cell transplant, which later took place at UF Health.
Although the cancer is still present, it is now being managed. Sterling gets bi-weekly shots and quarterly chemotherapy and visits Dr. Sharp and Dr. Broeseker consistently at the Cancer Center, while also going to Shands twice a year.
“It has been a blessing for me to have both Dr. Sharp and Dr. Broeseker as my physicians. They make me feel very comfortable and relaxed. The Tallahassee Memorial team always brings joy to my heart and puts a smile on my face,” said Sterling.
With the help of the team at Tallahassee Memorial, Sterling is back to enjoying the things he loves like carpentry, fishing, spending time with his family and their dog, Sean Lee.
