A belated birthday gift for a Round Rock engineer
ollowing antibiotic therapy
for an upper respiratory
infection in fall 2014, Round
Rock resident James Lesko, age 52,
sought care at the Scott & White
Clinic - Pflugerville for a suspicious,
painful lump that appeared in his
neck. Katherine Vega, MD, a family
medicine physician at the clinic,
suggested the condition could be
anything from an inflected gland
resulting from the previous infection,
to a mass. She ordered a CT scan so
an accurate diagnosis could be made.
On Mr. Lesko’s 51st birthday last
September he and his wife, Kathy, got
the news they feared. The mass was
indeed stage 3 squamous cell cancer
of the tonsil cavity, a cancer that
usually occurs in older individuals.
The Leskos quickly scheduled an
appointment with Nimish Patel, MD,
an otolaryngologist (ear, nose, and
throat specialist) at Scott & White
Clinic - Round Rock. Mr. Lesko,
the owner of AgH2O Holdings, a
F
Jim Lesko credits the care he received at
Baylor Scott & White for helping him attend
his son, Nick’s, graduation from West Point.
8
THE CATALYST December 15 | sw.org
construction management company
in Round Rock, is a nonsmoker
with no immediate family history of
cancer. He was given the option to
undergo radiation therapy at Texas
Oncology in Round Rock, which is
closer to his home—an important
consideration because Mr. Lesko
needed radiation treatment every
weekday for almost seven weeks.
medical record at their fingertips.
The Leskos then began a twomonth daily drive of more than
50 miles each way for Mr. Lesko’s
radiation oncology treatments.
He also endured three rounds of
chemotherapy at Scott & White
Memorial Hospital - Temple. Three
weeks into this grueling, combined
treatment regimen, it began to take
“Without exception, every physician, nurse,
caregiver, technician, and administrator
was caring and professional.”
—James Lesko
Or he could make the daily trip
to the Vasicek Cancer Treatment
Center at Scott & White Memorial
Hospital - Temple. After meeting
with his team of caregivers,
including radiation oncologist
Niloyjyoti Deb, MD; oncologist Lucas
Wong, MD; and otolaryngologist
Wayne Martin, MD, all physicians at
Scott & White Memorial Hospital Temple, Mr. Lesko decided he felt
more comfortable doing just that.
He reasoned that his health and
safety were best ensured by having
all of his team members—including
Shane Mills, MD, Mr. Lesko’s
primary care physician at the Round
Rock West Clinic—in the same
healthcare system with the same
its toll. “What many people may
not realize is that when someone
has cancer, simple everyday tasks
like going shopping, cooking, and
traveling to treatment appointments
can be monumental tasks,”
Mr. Lesko says. “As a patient, I
was amazed at the treatment and
facilities at Baylor Scott & White
and the world-class physicians who
cared for me. Without exception,
every physician, nurse, caregiver,
technician, and administrator was
caring and professional. Even though
the drive back and forth to Temple
was tough, I wouldn’t have done it any
other way.” He believes the addition
of radiation oncology services at
Baylor Scott & White - Austin/