Going the extra mile — or 26.2, to be exact — to fulfill a promise to a patient
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Three weeks after Christmas, James H. Flint, MD, set an alarm a bit earlier than normal for a Sunday.
He packed all of the appropriate gear he would need, including a new pair of sneakers, water, snacks and his phone (for music and photos), and made his way to San Diego’s Mission Bay Park before the sun came up.
Source: James H. Flint, MD.
About 7 hours later, Flint was still on his feet, greeted by his wife and five kids as he put the finishing touches on his first career marathon. Flint — an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in treating benign and malignant soft-tissue and bone tumors, including sarcoma, at UC San Diego Health — had a lunch picnic with his family to celebrate an accomplishment that landed him in Runners World.
“One of my friends, a long-time marathon runner, got so mad at me,” Flint told Healio. “‘I can’t believe you’re in Runners World — you’re not even a runner!’ I told her, ‘You just have to not run. Stop running, and you’ll get in the magazine.’”
So, why exactly did Flint decide to walk a marathon, all by himself and without any training? Because he made a pact with a patient 16 months earlier.
Keeping promises
Colin Jackson, Flint’s now-39-year-old patient, was diagnosed in 2019 with chondrosarcoma, a rare cancer that originates in the bone.
It was jarring for Jackson, who had recently made a dramatic change to his lifestyle to improve his health, including taking up running. Eventually, that turned into competing in marathons.
But when Flint saw the extent of the tumor after an MRI in the summer of 2019, he knew he had to deliver some potentially punishing news to Jackson.
“In his case, [the tumor was present in] the upper half of the femur and had a significant soft tissue extension, so it extended out of the bone and involved the majority of his gluteal muscles and part of his muscles that run down his thigh,” Flint said during a joint interview with Jackson and Healio. “His quad muscle was a part of that, as well. It was also on his hip capsule a little bit.”
A surgery that lasted 7 hours and that Flint would later describe as “huge” and “very complex” obviously would affect Jackson’s running ability, if not his unbroken spirit. Jackson, like a lot of the younger patients Flint sees in his role as an orthopedic oncologist at Naval Medical Center San Diego, was stubborn.
“I’m a marathoner and I want to keep doing this,” Jackson had said.
But, Flint had told him that wasn’t his expectation.
“My expectation is that you are cancer-free and that you can walk,” he said. “If we can get that, then I’ll be happy.”
Flint, however, also is not in the business of telling people they can’t do things, because he realizes every patient is unique. He knew Jackson was particularly motivated, even if the road to recovery would be steep.
“Most orthopedic surgeons don’t have long-term relationships with their patients but, in oncology, we do,” Flint said. “We surveil these patients, in Colin’s case, forever with a chondrosarcoma like this. One of my passions is encouraging my patients and finding ways to motivate them and to inspire. But, he ended up inspiring me with his motivation of wanting to do a marathon.”
“Let’s be realistic,” Flint told Jackson in September of 2019. “You’re not running a marathon. But, if you walk it, I’ll walk it with you. How about that?”
Flint said he was half-joking. He was a proud member of the “0.0 Club,” having never run a marathon, nor having any interest in running a marathon.
But Jackson wasn’t having it. During each follow-up visit, he reminded Flint of their pact. Then he began texting Flint updates on the progress of his walks as they increased in distance, too.
“Oh, man,” Flint thought to himself. “He’s getting serious.”
What many could have viewed as a throwaway comment, simply to please a patient or temper their expectations, became a promise and it forged a bond between Flint and Jackson. Although COVID-19 restrictions kept Flint from joining Jackson in Arizona, where Jackson wanted to walk because it was the site of his first marathon, they still managed to walk a marathon at the same time — 360 miles apart — on Jan. 17.
“It says everything about Dr. Flint,” Jackson, who recently had a clean scan after battling lung metastases, too, told Healio. “He says he’s going to do something and he does it. Walking a marathon for anybody? That’s a long way to walk. But I never thought he wasn’t going to do it. I knew he was going to do it. It took him less time to walk than operate on me.”
Fulfilling a goal
Jackson began his first marathon after major cancer surgery in Tempe, Arizona, at 6 a.m. Flint, getting on Jackson’s schedule an hour behind in California, began at 5 a.m. with a first big loop around Mission Bay and an extra loop around Fiesta Island during his journey. They checked in with each other at every mile or so through texts and video chats.
Unlike Jackson, Flint did not train; he figured as a busy doctor on his feet all day at work, and as a father chasing five kids around the house, he was mostly prepared. After the first trip around Mission Bay — basically a half marathon — Flint realized he underestimated the chore as he stopped off to refill his water.
“It wasn’t ‘game over,’ but it was painful from that point on,” he said. “The plantar fascia started burning, the gastrocnemius started burning, then that whole second lap I was just basically praying for my patients and thanking them for giving me the understanding of the pain that they go through.”
As he was walking by himself — from roughly 5 a.m. to noon — Flint had ample time to reflect.
“I’ve never had cancer, but to be in pain and to identify with people in pain, and to accomplish something that you didn’t think was possible, to relate to them on that level ... it was very humbling,” he said. “I was thinking about them, Colin and other patients that are going through these things, where they’re starting to walk or run or do the things they love, how could I serve them better, and to pray for their health and recovery.”
Flint pushed through his own pain that morning because he was able to put it into perspective. And because he made a promise to a patient.
“If I hadn’t have found Dr. Flint, I would be dead right now,” Jackson said. “I was misdiagnosed by four different orthopedic surgeons and specialized doctors. Dr. Flint actually cares, wants to save my life and wants to see me succeed, rather than just, ‘Hey there’s a wheelchair, there’s a walker.’
“And I’m not just alive — I’m thriving,” Jackson added. “If I went to other doctors, amputation was a good possibility for someone who has something like me, because they just don’t know how to do what Dr. Flint did. So, I am blessed. Dr. Flint is like a superhero in my circle of friends and family.”
Helping them ‘rise up’
Less than 2 years after they met — and 4 months since they completed a marathon both together and miles apart — Jackson and Flint said they may just be getting started. Although Flint joked he’d like to be “one and done,” he knows Jackson has other plans.
Both are passionate about bringing awareness to sarcoma, which, as Jackson found out, is often misdiagnosed.
“A half marathon sounds great,” Flint joked. “Or a 5K.”
“That’s the thing,” Jackson added. “We’re going to do a bunch of 5Ks to raise money and raise awareness.”
Back in January, when their first walking venture came to a satisfying end, Flint rested his body and mind at church with his family. Jackson celebrated at a bar on Mill Avenue in downtown Tempe.
“A beer came over,” Jackson recalled, “and they said, ‘This is from Dr. Flint. Congratulations.’”
One small promise to help motivate a patient, followed by one giant leap out of bed and onto a 26.2-mile journey on a Sunday morning. All because the patient held his doctor to his word.
“I’m OK with that,” Flint said. “I’m not afraid to get down with my patients, be where they are, and help them rise up. That’s what it is for me. If you want me to show up and support you, I’ll support you. If you need to be inspired, let me help inspire you.
“It’s a level of care that goes beyond, ‘Yeah I did the surgery, you’re doing great, let’s move on,’ he added. “I just care about people.”
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