Photo By Spc. Deborah Ledesma | CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait - Claude Knight looks on as he shuts a gate near a building he...... read more read more
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By Spc. Debrah Robertson
40th Public Affairs Detachment
CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait - Claude Knight, a security guard for Combat Support Association, came to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait to start a new life. He and his wife, Vicky, turned their lives upside down to move from their home in Dallas to Kuwait City early in 2005. Once they arrived in Kuwait and their lives once again became routine, they were thrown for another loop.
"It started out when I discovered a lump on the right side of my neck," said Knight. "I wasn't all that concerned about it because I had experienced an infected lymph node [before]." This must be a repeat of the infected lymph node, he thought. To treat what he and his physicians thought was just an infection, Knight underwent several procedures at the International Clinic in Salmiya, Kuwait, in July to rid himself of the lump that had formed.
"Treatment was continued with no apparent effect," said Knight. Nothing that the doctors did seemed to diminish the lump at all. Then on Nov. 15, 2005, he was admitted to the Sabah Hospital in Shuwaik, Kuwait, for a biopsy.
"It was a minor procedure and I was dismissed the next day," said Knight. "At first I didn't think anything about [him receiving a biopsy], until the doctor said he had cancer," said Vicky. "I think I went into shock."
"After a couple of weeks, I went back to [the doctor] at the International Clinic for the biopsy read-out," said Knight. It was confirmed; he had cancer.
"Okay, no big deal, lots of people [have] had cancer," thought Knight. "My uncle had three different types and is still active."
Admitted to the Kuwait Cancer Control Clinic, Knight received diagnostic tests and was prepped for treatment.
"The [medical] team came to me to explain the treatment they wanted to use, the pros and cons, [and] how long it would take," said Knight.
His wife had already discussed the treatment choices with the doctors. The Knights could stay in Kuwait for Claude's treatment or go back to America to start the process of diagnosis and treatment all over.
"He could have easily said 'I want to go back to the states and quit,'" said David Cano, also a security guard with CSA, "but he wouldn't let something like cancer stop him from obtaining his goals."
"We had just made the most important decision of my life," said Knight.
They stayed in Kuwait, and he began concurrent radiation treatments and chemotherapy twice daily.
"During the first two months, I was out of touch with the real world because of the effect the treatment had on me," said Knight.
"I was sad," said Vicky with tears streaming down her cheeks, "but I knew [the doctors in Kuwait] were taking care of him. I wasn't used to seeing him so helpless and incoherent."
The radiation burned open lesions in his tongue, preventing him from eating solid foods.
The doctors discussed placing a tube into his stomach so that he could receive more nutrients.
"There wasn't the proper [stomach] tube to be found anywhere in Kuwait," said Knight.
It had to be ordered from America, but that would take too long, he said.
"My lack of food intake was becoming a serious problem," he continued. "Something had to be done, and soon. My weight was dropping at an alarming rate."
Seeing his weight drop drastically was worrisome, said Vicky, because he normally has a healthy appetite.
"When I was admitted to the hospital, I weighed 203 pounds and four months later, I weighed 146 pounds," said Knight. To stop the steep dive in his weight, an intravenous tube was inserted into his right arm and fed up into his chest. Then he was fed by liquid injections.
"This worked but wasn't very filling, but at that point I didn't care," said Knight.
"Some parts of my treatment were tough. Then there were times when I felt I didn't need to be there at all," he said.
Knight found a new appreciation for life while fighting his battle with cancer. In a room with five others, all of them from different backgrounds, Knight experienced not only his own pain, but theirs as well.
"I think they were in worse condition than me," he said. "I could hear guys crying out from pain that medicine could not control or relieve, and you could tell when one was lost by the crying of family members and friends in the hallway."
But Knight survived his battle with cancer. "I survived the cancer. The four infected lymph nodes were dissolved and the cancer was defeated," he said.
"He could have given up," said Leroy Abrams, also a CSA security guard, "but he never gave up. He stayed motivated. That's a lot of endurance."
Knight's chances of having a reoccurrence was about 50 percent, his doctors told him, unless he could have surgery to remove the remaining lymph nodes in his neck.
"Make it look like a smile so my grandkids would see the scar as a "smiley face" in grandpa's neck," Knight told the doctors.
The operation took about three and a half hours. When it was finished, up to 100 stainless steel staples were used to close the wound and there were 13 rubber tubes placed for drainage.
"He was lying [in bed] stiff," said Vicky of her first encounter with her husband after his surgery. "I think I asked one of the doctors, 'Is that my husband?'"
"Recovery was first and foremost in my mind," he said. "I was up on my feet and walking [by day two]."
After the sixth day, Knight returned home where his wife and housekeeper resumed his care, and he was back at work within a couple of weeks. He was still in bandages, but he works in Third Army/ USARCENT as a Force Protection Officer providing security at the entrance to the compound, he said, so the team he works with took care of him and made his job easier so he could work.
"You could see he wanted to get right into [working again] and be a part of the team," said Cano. "He was persistent. He overcame a difficult time and wants to succeed."
Although Knight still has pain, his weight is back up to normal and he said he was doing much better.
Thanks to his own strong will and the support of his friends and colleagues at Third Army's forward command gate entrance, where Knight works, he triumphed over a formidable advisory.
"I want people to know that things are not so bad being in Kuwait," said Knight. "[My wife and I] went through a life-threatening experience, major surgery, and came out okay. Just because you don't understand the people or their culture doesn't mean they are inferior, quite the contrary. If you have the opportunity, get out, go places. Take a [Morale Welfare and Recreation] trip if available. Read about where you are. Learn about Kuwait. Make this a good experience while you are here. It was for me. I'm still alive and happy."
| Date Taken: | 11.29.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 11.30.2006 10:24 |
| Story ID: | 8442 |
| Location: | ARJIFAN, KW |
| Web Views: | 99 |
| Downloads: | 56 |
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