David Griffith was enjoying retirement. He exercised regularly, maintained a healthy diet and never had to take a prescription medication in his life.


David and Beth Griffith

Then, one day, the pain came.

“I had a pain in my abdomen,” the 67-year-old Hannibal resident said. “I thought maybe I pulled a muscle.”

A day later the pain worsened. David started thinking appendicitis and went to an area hospital emergency room.

If only it were his appendix. David learned he had a large tumor on his right kidney. The doctor mentioned the possibility of cancer and said surgery was needed.

David and his wife of 46 years, Beth, went home and called urologists in the Columbia, MO, area. Call after call they were told the same thing – the first available appointment would be 7-10 days.

The Griffiths – facing the possibility of cancer - found that timeframe unacceptable. They called a family friend, a nurse who works for Blessing Health. She told them Blessing had a new urologist, Dr. David Lieber. 


David Lieber, MD - Blessing Health Urology

Dr. Lieber is certified by the American Board of Urology. He earned his medical degree from and completed a urology residency at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. From there, Dr. Lieber completed a Washington University School of Medicine fellowship in endourology - a subspecialty using minimally invasive techniques to inspect the urinary tract and perform surgery. This experience and skill would be important to David’s care. 

The Griffiths called Blessing. Instead of a week or more, David’s appointment with Dr. Lieber took place the next day, which was two days after he received the news about his kidney tumor. Tests were conducted and surgery was scheduled for the following Thursday.

But the pain was relentless. On Saturday night, the day after his appointment with Dr. Lieber, David could not sleep.

“The pain was very intense and I have a high tolerance for pain,” he said. “My wife took me to the Emergency Center at Blessing.”

That decision helped save David’s life. In the Blessing Emergency Center, his hemoglobin – a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen – measured 8.  What did that mean?

“That’s the body’s blood volume,” Dr. Lieber said. “The tank is full – so to speak – when hemoglobin measures 13. When it falls to 6, the tank is half full. At a hemoglobin of 8, Dave’s tumor was causing heavy internal bleeding.”

As a result, David’s surgery was moved up. Dr. Lieber and his team laparoscopically removed a tumor the size of a football. Laparoscopy uses special equipment that require smaller incisions than traditional, open surgery. Smaller incisions mean less bleeding and pain, and quicker recovery. David’s right kidney needed to be removed, too.

“I lost the kidney, but I didn’t have any cancer,” he said.

That’s right. The football-sized tumor, causing David’s excruciating pain and life-threatening bleeding was non-cancerous.

“We don’t know exactly what caused it. It’s a mystery,” Dr. Lieber said of the tumor. “But if you are going to have a mystery, this is the side of the mystery to end up on.”

David is back to enjoying retirement and is optimistic about the future with Dr. Lieber on his healthcare team.


David Griffith

“He’s very informative, making sure I understand what is going on,” David said. “I trust him. I trusted him to do the surgery and would certainly trust him with anything I need from here on out. He cares.”

For more information on Blessing Health’s urology care, go to blessinghealth.org/urology.