Survivor marks 10-year milestone in cancer journey

Survivor marks 10-year milestone in cancer journey

When The Alabama Baptist featured Will Gaither following his cancer diagnosis a decade ago, he probably didn’t consider his cancer a blessing. But he does now.

"It changed my outlook on life," explained Gaither, 26, who considers First Baptist Church, Eufaula, in Barbour Baptist Association to be his home church. At age 16, Gaither learned he had cancer of the tibia, the larger and stronger of the two bones in the leg below the knee. To remove the cancer, doctors removed the tibia and replaced it with cadaver bone. Gaither underwent 18 chemotherapy treatments and was declared cancer-free, but healing was a problem. Amputation appeared to be the only option.

Then a new doctor suggested a live bone graft, a procedure in which the fibula, the smaller of the lower leg bones, would be cut in two and the pieces placed side by side to create one big bone. It worked. "Six weeks later, I was walking and healed, and I haven’t had any problems with it since," Gaither said. "I’m truly blessed."

Gaither, in the meantime, was enjoying a successful college career at Auburn University. In his senior year, he was named an Auburn Spade, one of the 10 most influential students on campus. During a trip to California in 2002, he appeared — and was a big winner — on "The Price Is Right." Along the way, Gaither earned a building science degree and is now a project manager with Birmingham-based Brasfield & Gorrie general contractors.