In late July, Washington Capitals radio voice John Walton had a colonoscopy which revealed he had colon cancer. Shortly thereafter, he underwent a 10-hour surgery to remove 8-10 inches of his colon and the mass that was formed. This week, Walton told WTOP, “I’m happy to say that after the operation, that I am cancer-free. I don’t need any chemotherapy, which is something I was pretty sure that I was going to need.”
Back in August, Walton posted about the diagnosis on his social media. He explained going in for a routine exam he expected to be, “nothing out of the ordinary.” Walton thanked his doctors at MedStar Health and all of the fans for their support.
He said he shared his story for one main reason, “If you’re 45 years old or older, get checked for colon cancer. Don’t put it off, get it done for you and your family. As shocking as the news was for me. I’m so glad that I did.”
Walton told WTOP this week, “I’m 51, and I probably waited a little too long, and thankfully, I was able to catch things in time.”
Unfortunately, recovering from the cancer surgery became tougher when Walton ended up in the hospital with ‘compartment syndrome’ which causes severe nerve pain. Four surgical procedures later, he is now on the road to recovery on all fronts.
About the setback, Walton told WTOP, “There are sometimes complications you don’t expect, and I didn’t get dealt a very good hand on that one. But if you were going to hand me a complication versus a clean pathology report, I think I’d take that 100 times out of 100.”
As he said he would be, Walton was behind the mic for the Capitals first preseason game this past weekend. The Capitals will open the regular season on Saturday Oct. 12.
