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By Ken Garfield
For Novant Health

Bob Drawdy, 76, was so stunned when Dr. David Hiller told him he had rectal cancer he wasn’t sure how to react.
Sitting with his wife, Ann, in Hiller’s office at Novant Health Colon & Rectal Clinic – Clemmons, Bob pulled himself together. He considered the diagnosis. Then he told Hiller he wanted to live five more years.
“How about 15?” Hiller responded.
“I said, ‘You’re hired.’”
This was in January 2022. Stomach pain and blood in his stool led Drawdy to Hiller. A colonoscopy found the tumor.
The word cancer has long struck fear in Bob’s heart. He lost his father to lung cancer at age 60, then his mother to ovarian cancer at age 56. Bob thought his own diagnosis was a death warrant.
But Drawdy believed in Hiller even if he joked about the doctor’s youthful appearance. “Are you out of high school yet?” Drawdy asked in jest. (FYI, Hiller, 42, graduated from Wake Forest University and LSU Health Shreveport School of Medicine in his native Louisiana.)
Turns out he didn’t need Hiller’s skills as a colon and rectal surgeon. Instead, he underwent six weeks of radiation plus chemo pills mornings and afternoons. That was followed by chemotherapy through a port. Bob handled the treatment with minimal side effects. He remained positive throughout.
“He has a really keen desire to live,” Ann said. He felt blessed to avoid surgery. And everyone at Novant who helped take care of him left a lasting impression. They seemed to radiate kindness.
Hiller said advances in treating colorectal cancer are such that 10 years Drawdy might have needed surgery and a colostomy bag.
“Nationally accredited rectal cancer centers such as Novant’s are showing increased rates of curing rectal cancer without requiring any surgery at all,” he says. “Even in cases needing surgery, a large majority of patients are able to be cured of this disease.
“Bob is a great example of the advancement of medicine in the last few years,” Hiller said. “This didn’t end his life. He beat it.”
Drawdy goes for an MRI and sigmoidoscopy every six months to make sure he is cancer-free. Less invasive than a colonoscopy, a sigmoidoscopy checks the lower part of the colon for abnormalities. You still have to drink the dreaded prep.
“It’s wonderful,” Drawdy said with good-natured sarcasm.
Retired from running the family’s second-generation cleaning supplies business with his brother, Bob and Ann enjoy life at their home in Bermuda Run. They love spending time with their five children and seven grandchildren. They play golf and work out at the gym.
Drawdy’s Christian faith and family support put spring in his step. His sense of humor, Ann said, and natural-born zest reflect the essence of his nature.
“I married him because he made me laugh,” she said. “He still makes me laugh.”
You can almost hear Drawdy in the background, smiling as he listens to Ann on the phone, going on about his virtues. Why shouldn’t he smile? He gets to say the words that every cancer survivor is blessed to be able to say.
“Here I am.”