Duane Hite has been a member of the Royal Canadian Legion since he joined the military.
As a 35-year war veteran, Duane Hite has escaped death before, but there was one thing he couldn’t avoid: cancer.
Throughout his life, Hite has believed God was always watching out for him.
He spent over three decades in the military, joining the air force at the age of 17.
“God was always on my side in the military,” he expressed.
During a tour in Egypt, Hite had a near-death experience.
In 1974, when he was crewing on an air craft, a friend of his asked him to trade places.
“I got off of the air craft, and half an hour later, he took off and three ground air missiles shot the air craft down and killed all nine on-board,” Hite reflected. “That’s why I always say God was with me that day.”
Hite believes it’s his military training that has him at peace with his diagnosis.
On April 6, Hite was told he had prostate cancer, which had spread to his lymph nodes. This news came after nine months of tests, scans, and trips to Edmonton.
Hite works as the manager of the Bonnyville Legion, and for the past 25 years has been organizing the local Remembrance Day ceremony.
While he was cleaning up wreaths following a ceremony, he missed a step and banged his knee against a cement wall.
“I complained for just about six months to a year about my knee, and finally my doctor sent me to Cold Lake for an MRI,” he explained.
Less than two days later, his doctor called to let him know he needed to go back to Cold Lake for further testing.
After a CT scan, he received another phone call.
“They told me I had to go to Edmonton to see a vascular surgeon because I had an aneurism under my left knee,” said Hite. “I went there to see the surgeon, and he couldn’t do anything because I’ve had this thing for most of the time I was in the air force.”
But that wasn’t the only news the doctor had for Hite.
While the vascular surgeon had been reviewing his MRI and CT scans, he saw something that lead him to believe Hite had cancer.
It wasn’t long before he had an appointment at the Kaye Clinic, and was quickly referred for a cystoscopy procedure, which confirmed Hite’s diagnosis.
“They sent me for seven different CT scans and MRIs, and finally, on April 6, they took me back in and did another cystoscopy, the same one they had done nine months before,” Hite described. “In the meantime, when I asked him if they were going to do something about the cancer, he told me I was too old for the procedures. In other words, I couldn’t have chemo or radiation. I couldn’t have anything really done.”
An appointment was made at the Cross Cancer Institute, but to Hite’s dismay, it was cancelled because they wanted to conduct two more CT scans.
“They wanted to see if it had migrated from my prostate,” detailed Hite, adding the scans confirmed the cancer had spread into his lymph nodes.
Because he wasn’t cleared for chemotherapy or radiation, doctors at the Kaye Clinic have been injecting leuprolide into Hite every three months.
The drug remains in his system for that time, but because it has a tendency to eat away at your bones, Hite is also on high dosages of calcium and vitamin D.
“It’s supposed to stop the cancer from progressing, but it won’t cure it,” Hite explained. “He just said I could go two, three, or four years with this. It’s supposed to stop the growth of the cancer, but it won’t cure it. They’ve known people to be on this for five years or better before they get worse.”
Throughout the entire process, Hite wondered why it had taken the doctors so long to do something.
He felt nine months was too long to wait for answers.
“Let’s face it, my case was dragged over a nine month period. In that time, it spread from my prostate to my lymph nodes.”
Hite believes if something had been done sooner, “they could have done something right then, and I wouldn’t have it in my lymph nodes now.”
Hite was born in southern Saskatchewan, but moved to the area with his wife Phylis in August 1992.
Together they have two children and four grandchildren.
His daughter lives in the area, and was instrumental in getting Hite to and from his appointments in Edmonton.
He has been a member of the Legion “pretty well the whole time I was in the military,” and became the local Legion manager in 1993.
When he was diagnosed, Hite admits he took the news hard, but since then, has come to terms with it.
“I made peace with myself over my 35 years in the military,” he said.
“It’s something I wouldn’t wish on anybody, but I have come to terms with it. I know other people in town who are on the same thing and they are the same age as myself or even a bit older. It’s a shame.”
His advice for anyone going through something similar, is to ask questions, and make sure you get into the Cross Cancer Institute right away.
“Make sure they explain everything to you,” Hite said.
Regardless of his diagnosis, Hite is passionate that someone has been looking out for him his whole life, through his 35 years of service and beyond.
