Marquita Spriggs's Kidney Cancer Story

This is a guest post by Marquita Spriggs, 44. She lives with her family in Waldorf, Maryland.

One evening while working out in 2015, I had a pain in my side that barely allowed me to walk. My husband insisted we go to the emergency room, and I am so grateful he did. I was thinking I pulled a muscle and just needed a muscle relaxer and all would be good.

Once in the emergency room I was told I needed a scan to see what was going on. About an hour later the doctor came back and gave me a prescription and told the nurse I could be discharged. As the nurse was unhooking me from the monitors another doctor entered and asked her to hook me back up. I looked at him, puzzled, and said I was just getting discharged. He looked at me and my husband and informed me that he looked at my scan, and I have a tumor or my left kidney that could possibly be cancerous.

Here I was at 33 being told I might have cancer. I was flooded with emotions.

After a week in the hospital, I was discharged to find a surgeon. When I got home, I had a voicemail from a doctor at the hospital that heard about my case and wanted to know if he could refer me to the National Institutes of Health. I took him up on his offer and went and met with the staff and the team that would help me. First, they scheduled me for a series of scans and tests. Then I was scheduled for a biopsy.

While waiting for the biopsy results, I had started back to work full time to keep my mind occupied. While I was at work, I got a call with the biopsy result that confirmed in fact I did have cancer. Not knowing for sure gave me hope that it wasn’t cancer but finding out the results just sent me on an emotion roller coaster. I cried, cried, and cried.

The next step was to schedule the surgery to have it removed. All the tests and scans showed it did not travel outside of my kidney.

On October 19, 2015. I was officially cancer free.

I was consistently going for follow up appointments to confirm no signs of recurrence for 8 years. Then in 2023 my scan showed something on my adrenal gland. I had to do more tests to ensure it wasn’t producing hormones. It was closely monitored for a year, then when my doctor saw it grew a little, he suggested having it removed in 2024.

Once it was removed and tested, the results showed that my kidney cancer had returned. I did follow up tests and scans to ensure there was no more cancer. Here I am in 2025, 43yrs old and cancer free again. This journey has taught me patience and not to sweat the small stuff. Enjoy every moment of life and spend as much time as you can making memories with the ones you love. Stay positive and keep the faith.

In February 2026, I went back for another follow up. My chest CT and abdominal MRI came back negative with no signs of a recurrence.

I constantly remind my family and friends to have their kidneys checked and not ignore those backaches.