LITTLE ROCK — It’s nearly time for the 21st annual Cooks Tour, which benefits the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. The April 15 event will feature three homes in the Chenal Downs neighborhood and local chefs whipping up restaurant favorites. Co-hosts for Cooks Tour are Timothy Ann and John O’Laimey, Dr. Rhonda Henry-Tillman and Robert Tillman, and Kim and Steve Carleson.
There is no need to ask Steve Carleson why he supports the institute. As a patient of Dr. Graham Greene, former assistant professor of urology and director of the Center for Prostate Cancer Research, Carleson says, “Graham and [Dr.] James Suen and the institute saved my life.”
In 2005, Carleson was diagnosed with bladder cancer, which luckily had not metastasized to any other organ. The tumor was removed and Carleson was told that there was a very small chance it would grow back. But it did.
This time it was a Stage IV cancer which had already spread.
Kim remembers the day the doctors told them that Steve had “a good two years.”
“I was five months pregnant. They say he’s got a good two years and I’m thinking I’ve got a baby boy growing in my belly.”
Both Carlesons began researching options. At every visit with one of the doctors, Kim would take in a stack of information about this revolutionary treatment or that experimental drug.
“The doctors never blew me off,” Kim says. Steve adds that the doctors were interested in what she had found and were willing to study the information.
Steve traveled to Houston for a consultation at MD Anderson Hospital. The specialists there recommended chemotherapy to contain the cancer. Greene and Suen argued that chemotherapy would suppress the cancer but not kill it. They recommended a complicated surgery to remove the bladder, the prostate and an unknown number of lymph nodes.
“No doctor would perform the surgery,” Kim says. “Once you are that far gone, they won’t do the surgery. Why do it if the patient is going to die.”
However, the Carlesons would not accept defeat. They would not accept that Steve would die. They appreciated that Greene, Suen and all the others at the institute took so much time with them and were always candid about the outcome.
With nothing to lose, Steve turned to Greene and asked him if he would do the surgery. Greene thought about it and said “Why not? It’s a Hail Mary, but let’s do it.”
The surgery lasted all day. Eventually, 48 lymph nodes were removed, and Greene built a bladder out of a portion of Steve’s small intestine.
Steve’s support of the Rockefeller Cancer Institute didn’t begin with his bout with cancer. His older brother died of brain cancer at 35. The loss hit the younger Carleson hard, and he began a lifetime of supporting the fight against cancer. He also has spent the past dozen years as a member of the board of directors of the Rockefeller Cancer Institute. After his own cancer surgery, he became an institute volunteer.
“It’s really amazing that we have a facility like this in Arkansas,” Steve says.
Kim Carleson adds that when they needed a team, they found “a cheerleader, a coach, the players” at the institute. “James Suen really drove the ship for us.”
And the institute auxiliary, which sponsors Cooks Tour, is in the driver’s seat for its 21st annual fundraiser.
“When people arrive, we’ll greet them and they will tour the home,” Kim says. “Then they will be offered a drink and a sampling of that chef’s specialties. Dan Capello from the Chenal Country Club is going to be our guest chef.”
The other chefs are Mark Abernathy of Loca Luna and Red Door restaurants, and John Beachboard and Scott McGehee of Zaza Fine Salad and Wood Oven Pizza and Big Orange restaurants. Glazer’s Distributors is furnishing the wine. There will be a shuttle between the parking lot and the featured homes.
“After serving on the board of the institute for so long, it’s ironic that I get cancer. But we sure came to the right place for treatment,” Steve says.
Cooks Tour will be from 1 to 4 p.m. April 15 in the Chenal Downs neighborhood. Tickets are $20 in advance and will be available for $25 at the parking area. For more information, call (501) 686-8286 or visit cancer.uams.edu/cookstour.
High Profile, Pages 35 on 04/08/2012