Cochise County patient pain-free after new cancer treatment at Canyon Vista

For residents of Cochise County, a new cancer treatment at Canyon Vista Medical Center in Sierra Vista could mean receiving specialized care without making the trip to Tucson or another larger city. The hospital is now offering cryoablation, a minimally invasive procedure that uses extreme cold to freeze and destroy cancerous tissue. The treatment has already made a major difference for Cayol Johnson, the first patient in the county to undergo the procedure. Three months later, Johnson said her pain is gone and that she feels better than she has in years.

Johnson had lived with pain for years before receiving a kidney cancer diagnosis. Her health situation forced her to confront the possibility that her kidneys could continue functioning only with treatment, or that they could eventually fail. “I had to do something,” Johnson said, describing the decision as one that left her weighing her ability to go on with her kidneys against the risk of kidney failure. Cryoablation offered a way to address the cancer while avoiding a traditional operation.

Canyon Vista invested in the equipment needed to provide the treatment, making it the only medical facility in Cochise County offering cryoablation, according to the hospital. Dr. Orlando Micheli, an interventional radiologist, said the procedure may be an option for some patients with kidney, liver or lung cancer. It can be particularly useful for people whose overall health makes them less able to tolerate conventional surgery. Rather than requiring a larger operation, the technique targets the cancerous area with extreme cold.

The approach can also help preserve healthy kidney tissue. Micheli said traditional kidney surgery may involve removing the tumor along with some normal, functioning portions of the kidney. For certain patients, losing that healthy tissue is an undesirable consequence of removing the cancer. Cryoablation provides an alternative by freezing and destroying the targeted cancerous tissue, without the same surgical approach of cutting out a section of the kidney.

Micheli described the treatment as part of a broader change in cancer care, in which some patients can arrive at a hospital, undergo a procedure and leave without the cancerous tissue that brought them there. He said the cryoablation being performed in Sierra Vista is the same treatment patients could receive at larger medical centers, including Banner facilities or hospitals on the East Coast. For Cochise County patients, the local availability is significant because it brings that care into the community rather than requiring them to seek it elsewhere.

Johnson said she had repeatedly heard that she would need to travel to Tucson for medical procedures. That prospect influenced whether she would pursue treatment at all. “If they can’t do it here, I don’t do it,” she said, explaining how strongly she preferred to remain close to home. Her experience highlights the practical challenge of specialized medical care in rural and smaller communities, where a procedure may be available only in a distant city.

Travel can add another burden for people who are already dealing with cancer, pain or other serious health concerns. Micheli said keeping patients near their families and support networks is important, and that travel can be especially unfavorable when someone is sick. Treatment in Sierra Vista may allow patients to stay near the people who help them through diagnosis, procedures and recovery. It also reduces the need to arrange transportation and make repeated trips outside Cochise County, although no broader patient travel figures were provided.

For Johnson, the benefit of care at Canyon Vista extended beyond the procedure itself. She said staff members treated her as a person rather than as a number, and that the personal attention affected how she experienced the process. After the treatment, she said the pain disappeared. “It was just like it disappeared,” Johnson said. She described the care as feeling like a cloud had come over her and taken care of her, a sense of relief and reassurance that accompanied the medical treatment.

Canyon Vista’s investment means residents with appropriate kidney, liver or lung cancer cases now have another option in Sierra Vista. The procedure is not described as suitable for every patient, and Micheli framed it as an alternative for some people, especially those who may not be healthy enough for traditional surgery. Still, Johnson’s case gives the county a local example of what the treatment can provide: cancer care close to home, protection of healthy kidney tissue as a consideration, and recovery without the pain she had experienced for years. For patients who have been told to go to Tucson, the availability of cryoablation in Cochise County creates a new possibility for receiving advanced treatment near their families and support systems.