Keith’s Cause is Small but Mighty

This is a guest post by Nicole Scott, whose husband Keith is diagnosed with kidney cancer. Together, they organize “Keith’s Cause” to raise awareness about kidney cancer where they live in Ohio.

My name is Nicole Scott and my husband’s name is Keith Scott. We live in a small rural town just south of Columbus, Ohio called Circleville. Our small town is known for the Pumpkin Show which brings in visitors from all over the world and shuts our town completely down for a whole week!

Keith has worked at the local hospital for 11 years this coming April. He is known for going out of his way for people and his big smile. I have worked under the same organization – Ohio Health – for 3 years this March. While working at the hospital, Keith has won employee of the year, won numerous “inspire points” earned for excellence and going above and beyond, and been featured in hospital recruiting material and a commercial.

A couple of years ago, Keith started experiencing groin pain that would come and go. I urged him to see his provider but because of the nature of his pain he put it off due to embarrassment. Around March or April of last year the pain became more persistent. He finally agreed to let me make an appointment for him to be seen which was set to be May 12, 2023. On May 10, I came home from work to see that Keith was having a hard time just sitting down. He reluctantly agreed to got to the ER. The ER provider said he believed it was a hernia but would do a CT scan to confirm and “get us on our way”.

After what seemed like an eternity, the provider came in the room with tears in his eyes and told us that Keith had a mass on his kidney that appeared to be cancer. On June 16, Keith had a partial nephrectomy which confirmed he had papillary kidney cancer.

During the time in between Keith’s diagnosis and surgery as well as his recovery we had a huge support system. We passed out bracelets to anyone that would wear them to show support for Keith. The entire hospital wore Pray4Keith wristbands as well as friends and family. People sent pictures from across the country to show support for Keith, pictures that were revealed to him the night before his surgery. I also documented our journey on my Facebook page daily.

Once Keith’s recovery was complete and the fog cleared I knew we needed to give back as so much was given to us through cards, texts, meals, wrist band wearing, visits, and kind words.

The thought of giving back turned into the vision of Keith’s Cause. In December, we donated blankets to the medical surgery floor, visited other patients, and brought each of them an orange flower. We told them our story and tried to encourage them.

We have since donated gas gift cards to our local cancer center, bought patient family members food from the cafeteria, and have reached out to different departments in the hospital to see how we can help. We have not asked for any money from anyone but have done this ourselves other than one donor who asked to help with the gas gifts cards.

On our Facebook page, I also feature different struggles that we have had through our journey as well as different needs and barriers in the hospital.

This March, for Kidney Cancer Awareness Month, we will be passing out orange wristbands, informational pamphlets, and trying to raise awareness through our Facebook page.

Keith and I just started Keith’s Cause and we are very small but we are trying to make a small difference in the lives affected by this terrible disease – the need is so great!