Attitude of Survival

It is rare for anyone to live more than a year with the type of liver cancer that Philip French was told he had. But three years later, Philip has his own perspective: “I have 20 grandchildren and seven children,” he says. “It’s not time for me to leave.”

In his fight against the deadly cancer, Philip had Dr. Prakash Neupane, medical oncologist, on his side. “He’s kept a close eye on me,” Philip says of the physician he has gotten to know very well.

After completing his specialty training at St. Barnabas Hospital in New York City and Louisiana State University in Shreveport, Dr. Neupane joined the faculty at LSU. Later, his desire to become more directly involved in patient care brought him to Missouri and to St. Mary’s Cancer Specialists.

Philip is happy about that. “Between God and Dr. Neupane, there was an attitude there of flat-out survival,” he says. “There are a lot of doctors out there, and there are a lot of good doctors out there, but there are some exceptional doctors, and he’s very exceptional.”