In honor of Kenneth Harris
Kenneth Harris is a salesman. “When I believe in something, I have to spread the word. I tell everyone I meet: if you’ve got prostate cancer, go see Dr. Wallen at UNC. But don’t take my word for it. Go and talk to him and the staff and see for yourself.”
Ken is from the small town of Hertford, NC, and so when he found out that he had prostate cancer, he knew he’d have to travel for an operation. But he didn’t want just any operation. While researching online, he found a new robotic procedure for prostate removal that limited recovery time and made blood transfusion unnecessary, factors important to Ken. But the first surgeon he approached said the new technique was too expensive. The next doctor said he couldn’t do prostate surgery without a blood transfusion, and Ken would likely be laid up in bed for weeks after traditional surgery. But then Ken found out that Dr. Eric Wallen was using the robotic procedure at UNC. And UNC Hospitals could work with Ken so he could afford it.
The day after the operation, Ken was sitting in his hospital bed waiting to be released. “They brought me lunch the same time as my wheel chair arrived for discharge,” Ken says. “So I took my lunch to go.”