The Catalyst Issue 13 | Winter/Spring 2012 | Page 12

A community leader is stunned by a life-threatening
diagnosis of bladder cancer, but triumphs with the
help of physicians and friends at Scott & White

Standing
ife catches all of us off guard
sometimes. Temple, Texas,
resident Tom Fairlie can attest
to that. Life was humming along for
Mr. Fairlie, as he stayed busy as the
division director of fine arts at Temple
College and conductor of the Temple
Symphony Orchestra. He and his wife,
Mary, enjoyed healthy lives, with diets
full of fresh greens and grains, and the
occasional spicy food that Mr. Fairlie,
age 57, loves. An avid cyclist, he was
physically fit and felt in the prime of
his life.
The storm clouds began to gather,
however, when Mr. Fairlie noticed blood

L

in his urine in 2010. He contacted his
internist, Barbara Weiss, MD, an assistant
professor of internal medicine, Texas
A&M Health Science Center College of
Medicine. Dr. Weiss immediately sent
Mr. Fairlie to Scott & White urologist
Kristofer R. Wagner, MD, who is also
an assistant professor of surgery at the
Texas A&M Health Science Center
College of Medicine. Mr. Fairlie already
knew Dr. Wagner from another venue:
both are members of the Scott & White
Cycling Club.
After a biopsy, evaluated by
pathologist Ludvik Donner, MD, chief
of the Section of Immunopathology and

“Within a few months he was back to
exercising and normal activity. He made
an amazing recovery.”
—Kristofer R. Wagner, MD

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The Catalyst Winter/Spring 12 | sw.org

professor of pathology and laboratory
medicines at Texas A&M Health
Science Center College of Medicine,
and a friend of Mr. Fairlie’s for more
than 15 years, Mr. Fairlie was diagnosed
with carcinoma in situ of the bladder, an
uncommon type of cancer. When they
learned the results, Dr. Wagner stayed
with Mr. Fairlie until late in the evening.

A game face
What made this case particularly rare
was that the cancer was located within
a diverticulum, or a pocket outside
the bladder wall. Dr. Wagner says,
“It was also a very aggressive type
of cancer that often will invade the
bladder wall and spread to other sites.
An aggressive tumor in a diverticulum
is a high-risk situation.” Although
bladder chemotherapy was an option,