Great White guitarist Mark Kendall recently provided a promising update on his ongoing fight with stage four kidney cancer. During a recent appearance on the “I Ask No One With Kevin Re LoVullo” podcast, the musician detailed his current treatment plan and the significant progress he has made since his initial diagnosis.
Seeking specialized care, the guitarist was connected with a medical expert in California who put him on a targeted regimen that has successfully isolated and reduced the cancer.
“Yeah, it’s getting better. It’s pretty amazing. I called this friend of mine in Chicago, who’s a neurologist, to see if he knew anybody in California that was a kidney guy. And he did. He turned me on this guy, Dr. Shuch, from UCLA, and I got together with the doctor. And they put me on immunotherapy, which is an infusion, and I take daily pills. The infusion medicine’s called Keytruda. And I take Lenvima daily. And what it does, it does something to the immune system that attacks the cancer. And so it keeps shrinking. Now it’s isolated in my kidney, because what leaked into my ribs, they could use radiation. So I did three days of radiation, and it just wiped it out. So now it’s just isolated in my kidney about that big; it’s five centimeters. So I start to feel better every time I get the news that it’s small,” he explained.
Reflecting on the initial shock of the diagnosis, Kendall admitted his fear but noted that the specific nature of his cancer offers a much better long-term outlook than he originally anticipated.
“You get in your head a little bit, like, ‘Am I dying? What’s going on?’, especially when I was first diagnosed,” Kendall continued. “The ‘C’ word has always been the word I wanted to stay away from. So when I was diagnosed, it was scary. And so I wanted to get more information on it before it went public or whatever. And then, when it shrunk to eight centimeters, then I told the fans, ‘Hey, got this thing.’ But my doctor told me that what I have is manageable. People have it for decades and are able to control it because it’s not a deal like with prostate cancer and you don’t know you have it. It spreads all over your body and you have no chance. This is a deal where I can fight it and it’s gonna keep getting little. So that’s kind of a good thing. They told me, ‘If you ever get cancer, you kind of wanna get thyroid cancer or kidney cancer.’ Not that you wanna get it, but if you do, this is something that’s more controllable.
Despite the physical toll of the illness and treatments, the veteran rocker maintains a positive outlook and is gradually regaining his strength.
“So I’m doing good. I feel good. I’ve lost some weight, and I’ve gained 10 pounds back. So I’m eating pretty good. Yeah, it takes a minute. I’ve never been at this weight since I was, like, 15, so it’s kind of weird. People are telling me, ‘You look great, man.’ I’m going, ‘Yeah. Oh, thanks. I got cancer.’ But, yeah, I’m really grateful that things are going good with what I have.”
Acknowledging his family’s medical history, the guitarist concluded:
“I was hoping I could dodge cancer, but both my parents had it, so I guess when it’s in your blood, it’s hard to avoid.”
During an earlier interview with “Meltdown” of Detroit’s WRIF radio station, Kendall revealed that his treatment is working remarkably well.
His health scare began with alarming symptoms that sent him rushing to the emergency room. What initially appeared to be a standard infection turned out to be something far more serious.
“Well, when I first was diagnosed, I had irregular pee. It was actual blood at first. So I went to emergency. I was, like, ‘Holy crap. What’s this? What’s going on here?’ And the guy told me, after he figured everything out, he said, ‘It’s one of the worst urinary tract infections ever.’ And just gave me a prescription for Z-Pak. So I took it over the five days or whatever, and it went away,” he said at the time.
When symptoms returned two weeks later, Kendall sought a second opinion. After undergoing an ultrasound and CT scans, doctors discovered a 13-centimeter mass in his kidney.
“So when they did the ultrasound, they were hanging in my right kidney for a long time, so I figured something’s wrong there,” he recalled. “And then I found out a couple of days later I had cancer in there, and it was 13 centimeters. So I didn’t really know what was going on yet. So I didn’t wanna go public and make a big deal and be distracted by people who love me. So I waited until I got more information.”
Determined to fight, Kendall connected with a top specialist at UCLA, Dr. Shuch, who placed him on a cutting-edge treatment plan involving immunotherapy. The regimen includes infusions of Keytruda and daily Lenvima pills designed to help his immune system attack the tumor.
The results have been extremely positive. Kendall reported that the tumor has shrunk significantly since he began the treatment.
“Every few weeks — I don’t know exactly how long — but they did their first scan, and it shrunk to 11 centimeters. And then the next one it went to eight. And the last one I just had, it went to five centimeters and it’s isolated in my kidney,” Kendall explained. “And I pulled it up on the Internet. I wanted to know how much five centimeters [was], but I didn’t wanna know how much 13 [centimeters] was; that sounded too big. And it like looked like an inch. But just the fact that it’s shrinking, it’s in one spot. I start to feel better.”
Despite the severity of a “stage four” diagnosis, Kendall remains optimistic, noting that his doctors view the condition as something he can live with for a long time.
“Because the doctor told me the type [of cancer] and what I have, this isn’t like colon cancer when it spreads all over the body and you got no chance. It’s manageable, he told me. What I have is manageable. People have had this up to 20 years. So you just keep fighting it. It’s kind of a pain in the a**. You gotta go to the doctor every three weeks or whatever, but you get to live. So that’s pretty much the story.”
While battling cancer, Kendall has also been reflecting on his life through the writing of his upcoming autobiography, titled “Soul Of A Man.” He has completed 14 chapters so far, working alongside ghostwriter Jeffrey Mangus.
Kendall revealed that he initially turned down a book deal from a Canadian company because they wanted him to focus strictly on guitar technique rather than his personal life.
“And they said, ‘There’s too many stories. We just want you to talk about the guitar,’” Kendall said. “I’m going, like, me being a fan myself, I like to hear what Billy Gibbons [ZZ Top] is doing on the weekends, part time, when he is not on stage. So I would figure that fans would wanna get to know me better. And so I didn’t do it. I just stopped it right there. I go, ‘I really don’t wanna do that type of book.’ It could be maybe called an autobiography, but it’s really gonna be a biography. ’cause I’m letting the cat outta the bag here. You’re gonna get to know Mark Kendall here.”
The writing process has been an emotional trip down memory lane for the guitarist, who is committed to being completely honest in the book, even if it might ruffle some feathers.
“We’re going album to album, telling stories, lacing in stories in between. And I’m trying not to make it a real dirt book, but I’m telling the truth, so some feelings could get hurt. I don’t know. But I’m not gonna hold back anything. I’m just gonna be truthful about everything and just call it the way I’ve seen it.”
He added: “It’s gonna be a trip to see my whole life laid out in a book, man.”
