Mercy Hospital Offers New Cancer Blood Marker Testing

Research shows the earlier you catch cancer the more likely doctors can save a person’s life.

Mercy clinics of Oklahoma have a new tool to help identify cancer even earlier. Oklahoma City resident Rick Hinton thinks about his father and what he’s been through.

“Yeah, yeah my father has cancer,” Hinton said.

Cancer doesn’t just affect one person. This haunting word spoken in a doctor's office changes families forever.

“He had a Gleason 10 prostate cancer,” Hinton said.

His father’s diagnosis was no joke, but today Hinton reports nothing but good news.

“Remarkably well. Ninety-one years old and [he is] doing really well,” Hinton said.

Perhaps all that work on the farm served Hinton’s dad well.

“Going up in a lift and using a chainsaw and trimming them,” Hinton said. “These are not things that you’re supposed to do after 90 years old.”

This diagnosis changed Hinton’s priorities at his routine checkups.

“I’m not gonna spend my time worrying about it, but I'd be stupid not to test for it,” Hinton said.

Mercy Clinic has a new option.

“We at Mercy are really excited about the multicancer early detection test we call Grail,” said Dr. Jesse Campbell, the president of Mercy clinics in Oklahoma.

“The test was simple. It was just a blood test like I do for my physical every year,” Hinton said.

This blood test can identify 50 different types of cancer. Time magazine calls it one of the best inventions of 2022.

“We are going to find evidence of cancer … we call those signals, way before the patient has any type of symptom at all,” Campbell said.

A positive result doesn’t mean cancer exists, but it’s one step ahead of a diagnosis. Campbell says it’s already making lives better.

“It just tells us that it’s a possibility,” Campbell said. “Some of the diagnostic testing came back positive and we were able to intervene right away with those patients.”

As far as Hinton’s results, his life is good.

“In my case no. I’m not likely to have any of fifty different kinds of cancer,” Hinton said.

Hinton can think about his risk of cancer less and he can focus on his dad and the time they still have left together.

The test comes with a cost of just under $950 and is currently not covered under insurance. Once the test becomes FDA-approved Campbell expects insurance companies to cover the test.

Mercy will cover the cost for some patients who can’t afford the test. Anyone interested in receiving the test does not have to be a patient with Mercy.