The Blood Work Appointment He Nearly Skipped Saved His Life

Zach Keck has a deeply personal reason for volunteering at the Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS. He realizes that, without timely medical intervention last year, he might not have been alive to see it.

In March 2025, he had been feeling unusually tired, but “I just chalked it up to being 42, you know?” he said with a laugh. Still, Brittany Patrick, an advanced practice provider at Memorial Care in Forsyth, recommended Keck get two rounds of lab work to assess what might be happening.

Keck got the first round of blood work, which came back with normal results. At that point, he said, he put off going for the follow-up testing Patrick had recommended.

By December, he was still dealing with fatigue and had also begun having night sweats, so he finally went for the lab work.

“They called me the next morning and said, ‘You’ve got to get to the hospital now for a scan,’” he recalled. “Then Brittany was texting, saying we needed to talk when I was done, so we knew it was something serious.”

Zach soon learned he had renal cell cancer, with a softball-sized tumor on his right kidney. While still reeling from that news, he got a call the next morning. As his scans were being reviewed, the medical team saw a possible blood clot – a life-threatening situation if it were to dislodge and go to his lungs. He was admitted quickly to Springfield Memorial Hospital.

He spent several days around Christmas in the hospital, getting surgery and recovering. The medical team told him that he would have had only 3-6 months to live if the tumor hadn’t been found when it was.

Now, Zach is on the road to recovery. He’s still getting immunotherapy every three weeks, but his prognosis is good. His energy is back, enough so that he was able to volunteer as a walking scorer, following pros along the 18-hole course.

When he was in the hospital at Christmas, family members brought him gifts, including several golf-related items and books. Nurses noticed and mentioned the Memorial Health Championship. That sparked his desire to volunteer.

Now, he urges others to take symptoms seriously and seek care if something seems off.

“Hard-headed men, none of us like to go to the doctor, or get that blood work,” he said. “But in my case, simple blood work ended up saving my life.” 

Need to find a physician or healthcare provider? Visit memorial.health.