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at the age of 16 . When Owen was 11 , they took him to the hospital with a sore throat that doctors initially thought was strep throat . Later , it was found that he actually had leukemia .
“ Leukemia is a cowardly blood cancer that surgeons can ’ t cut out , so it was frustrating to deal with for all of us .”
Dr . McMasters shared a story of Owen ’ s first year of treatment in 2012 when there was a shortage of one of his chemotherapy drugs , methotrexate . He was told he wouldn ’ t be able to get his next treatment . Like the fighter he was , Owen decided he wasn ’ t going to accept that as an answer . “ He was indignant about children with cancer not being able to get the chemotherapy they needed . He went on the war path , and we arranged local media interviews which led to national news stories . He was on CNN with Dr . Sanjay Gupta and did other interviews , all while he was as sick as could be . But he was speaking out to fix this problem for people just like him . After those national interviews , the FDA allowed 50,000 vials of methotrexate to be released and there was no shortage thereafter .”
As part of Owen ’ s legacy , the family established the Owen ’ s Wish Fund at the Brown Cancer Center , raising money to help fund cancer research in the areas of immunology and immunotherapy .
One way Dr . McMasters is able to stay connected to Owen is by spending time at their family farm in Casey County , Kentucky . In addition to spending time reflecting and unplugging from screens , he enjoys his time just getting his hands dirty and spending time with the land , hunting , fishing and farming . He ’ s notorious for showing up in peak seasons at the downtown hospitals with a truckload of watermelon , sweet corn or pumpkins .
While he loves his time on the farm , he has no plans to make that a full-time job anytime soon .
“ I really love what I do . I get to foster the success of the students , residents , fellows and junior faculty that come through the UofL School of Medicine . We have a long and proud legacy and tradition of surgical excellence that goes back to 1837 . I do feel a sense of responsibility to that history and legacy . I appreciate even just a small part I can have in furthering our mission to teach the next generation of surgeons to do innovative research that will help with patient care .”
Kathryn Vance is the Communication Specialist at the Greater Louisville Medical Society .
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