Leland Crane is a man of many talents and passions. The 55-year-old Philadelphia, Missouri, resident is a farmer, seed salesman and machinist. He is passionate about exercise – Leland enjoys his morning walks - and about restoring or modifying old tractors.
Leland owns one tractor that is very special to him. It is a 1946 International WD-9 with a Cummins 4BT engine. Don’t worry if you don’t understand any of that, because what makes the tractor special is the light blue ribbon it now carries. The ribbon signifies Leland is a prostate cancer survivor and he uses it as an ice breaker - to share his message with others about the importance of prostate cancer screening.
“Some guys tell me they are scared to death about screening,” he said. “I tell them I was, too. But had I not caught this, in two or three years it could have spread and been much, much harder to deal with.”
About 1 man in 8 will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime and about 1 man in 41 will die from the disease, making it the second leading cause of cancer death in American men. Prostate cancer can often be treated successfully when caught early.
It all started with a routine visit to the clinic
A visit to his primary care provider may well have saved Leland’s life.
In fall of 2021 he visited nurse practitioner Traci Kline at Blessing’s Palmyra, Missouri, Clinic, to check on his blood pressure. Traci noticed Leland was due for a PSA blood test, so she ordered it. The test detects an increased risk for prostate cancer.
Leland’s test showed an elevated level of PSA. Traci suggested he see a urologist.
A long-time Blessing Health patient, Leland made an appointment with urologist Dr. Bradley Holland.
After tracking Leland’s condition for several weeks and redoing the PSA test twice, Dr. Holland performed a biopsy that confirmed a diagnosis of prostate cancer.
“I want this thing fixed like that,” Leland said as he snapped his fingers.
He researched treatment options thoroughly and chose to have surgery to remove his cancerous prostate. Dr. Holland referred Leland to fellow Blessing urologist Dr. David Lieber.
“We all do things similarly in terms of disease management,” Dr. Holland said about the teamwork among members of the Blessing Health urology team. “But we all have our own strengths. We refer back and forth between each other if there is a patient need for which one of us is more suited to treat.”
Dr. Holland referred Leland to Dr. Lieber because of his extensive experience in robotic surgery. Robotic surgery requires smaller incisions than “open” surgery, leading to less blood loss, shorter hospital stays and quicker recovery. Dr. Holland assisted with the surgery.
After earning his medical degree from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Dr. Lieber completed a residency at the school in urology and a fellowship in endourology - a subspecialty focused on laparoscopic techniques to address urological cancers and reconstruction. Dr. Lieber has also taught robotic techniques to new urologists for the past 15 years, in addition to seeing his own patients. Dr. Lieber is certified by the American Board of Urology.
Nothing is ever easy
Leland needed all of Dr. Lieber’s skill and experience because of a complex and life-saving abdominal surgery he had at Blessing in 2014. The emergency left him scarred internally, posing a challenge to removal of his prostate.
“Leland had a significant previous surgical history making his current need higher risk and more complicated,” Dr. Lieber said. “Leland’s thought process was very rational about why he wanted the procedure even with the risk. So, we went ahead with it.”
Although Leland was very knowledgeable about his past health issues, Dr. Lieber’s thorough research of his medical history reassured Leland his care was in the right hands.
“I found it comforting and refreshing. I trusted him.”
The day comes and so does recovery
On February 1, 2022, Leland had surgery to remove his prostate and 13 lymph nodes using the DaVinci robotic system. He went home the same day to start his recovery, and just over a month after his surgery, Leland and his wife hit the road for a trip to Branson, Missouri.
“I had some hiking trails down there that I wanted to do,” he said. “We went eight miles one afternoon. That was six weeks to the day after my surgery.”
Leland was back living each day to its fullest thanks to his faith, the power of positive thinking and his Blessing Health team.
Dr. Lieber credits every member of the surgical team for extensive preparation that contributed to the success of Leland’s surgery.
Even though she was not in the operating room, Traci Kline shares in the success.
“It is extremely rewarding as a primary care provider to know that because of the open dialogue and trusting relationship I have with my patients, diseases can be caught early and patient outcomes are improved,” she said.
For more on Blessing’s urology team, click here. For more information on Blessing primary care, including provider locations throughout the region, click here.
