New treatment for prostate cancer helps longtime race mechanic in Iredell County

TROUTMAN, N.C. — Laurence Gerrish lived a fast life, spending years in Formula 1 racing before working with an Indy Car team in the ‘70s.

“I thought I was enjoying life way too much to get cancer,” Gerrish told Channel 9′s Almiya White. “I was too busy having a wonderful time, traveling the world, hopping on planes, hopping in helicopters.”

Gerrish ended up getting a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, and he got concerning results.

“PSA had been creeping up, and I think it got up to around six [ng/mL], and that’s when we decided to take some steps and look into it and take action,” Gerrish said.

Gerrish, living in Troutman, turned to Iredell Health Radiation Therapy Center. He said walking into the center for the first time wasn’t easy.

“You go into a little bit of a depression, you really do, because it’s not like you don’t have cancer,” he told White. “You have cancer, and you have to deal with it.”

Between April and May, Gerrish received 28 radiation treatments. It’s something he thought would’ve been the worst part.

“Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease, but this was simple,” Gerrish said. “I was giggling, laying on the machine, getting cured.”

Kristen Steiber was Gerrish’s radiation therapist, and she took Channel 9 inside the room where the treatment is done.

“When I started in radiation therapy, we would just treat the whole area, the whole pelvis, and so you would get a lot of healthy tissue. Now, we have something called intensity-modulated radiation therapy,” Steiber said.

She says they use computerized technology to map out the location of the prostate and tumor cells, which is painless.

“We can really zone in on the cancer cells and leave those healthy tissue out, so it’s a lot better treatment with less side effects for our patients,” Steiber said.

Gerrish said 10 minutes on the machine led to him getting cured. Now, he’s encouraging other men to get their yearly checkup.

“Get tested. It’s just a blood sample they pull out of your arm that tells you everything you need to know. And as soon as your numbers start going up, get it attended to, don’t let it go too far,” Gerrish said.

Now, Gerrish has finished his radiation treatment and he’s back to working on cars all across the country.

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