Commissioner suffers from cancer

Jeff Schweers

Monday, Oct. 28, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

A week ago, Yvonne Atkinson Gates waited nervously on the test results that would shape the rest of her life.

Not the kind of news for a mother of two in the middle of a County Commission re-election campaign, who was also helping her husband on his campaign to be retained as a district judge.

Not the kind of news for the vice chairwoman of the state's Clinton-Gore campaign, days before first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was due in town for a lecture and political rally.

Not the kind of news for anyone: cancer, but in this case treatable.

"I underwent a biopsy, with the result that I was not expecting," the 40-year-old Gates told reporters Sunday at McCarran International Airport, pausing frequently to hold back tears.

Two hours before she was to fly to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Gates explained she had a rare, softball-sized liposarcoma in her left thigh that her doctors were optimistic about treating.

So rare that the biopsy had to be sent to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C., for analysis.

"It's a well-differentiated, very low-grade malignancy," said Dr. William Zamboni, chief of plastic surgery at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. "It has a very favorable prognosis."

Zamboni later said the pathologist had not seen anything like it in at least four years, but that M.D. Anderson treats them every week.

Dr. Mark Schusterman, chairman of plastic surgery at M.D. Anderson, will supervise the procedure, Zamboni said. Gates will have the tumor and a quadrant of thigh muscle removed, then have reconstructive microsurery to replace the muscle.

"This is called limb-sparing surgery," Zamboni said. "In the old days, this would have meant amputation. These days, it's not."

Gates said her doctor explained that she had a choice of having muscle removed from her back or her stomach to reconstruct the leg.

"He said look at this way, I could get a tummy tuck out of this," Gates said during a rare moment of laughter with some friends.

Zamboni said Gates would have "close to 100 percent functionality" of her leg, and that recovery from the cancer was very favorable. He expected her to be walking in four to five days, and back as chairwoman of the County Commission after 10 days.

Gates said she would regret missing President Clinton's visit on Thursday and the Nov. 5 election.

"I would never miss the last two weeks of an election campaign," Gates said, "but seeing my 3-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son grow up is more important."

Her son, daughter and mother were among the family members and friends present for the news conference. Also there were Commissioner Myrna Williams and state Democratic Party Chairwoman Jan Jenkins.

Her husband, District Judge Lee Gates, had gone to Houston ahead of her to get things ready for her arrival, she said.

Gates found out last week, one day before the first lady was in town for a rally and to kick off the Barbara Greenspun Lecture Series at UNLV. Gates told Gov. Bob Miller about her illness before the lecture, setting off what Miller said may be "the longest hug by two elected officials."

Miller, who announced earlier this month that he had treatable prostate cancer, said in a letter to Gates that he and his wife, Sandy, were praying for her speedy recovery.

"We're thankful your prognosis is excellent," Miller wrote, "and we know you'll soon be back to your usual high-energy self before you know it."

Gates also received a handwritten letter from the first lady. "The governor told me of your upcoming surgery and I wanted to wish you well. Thanks for being with me," Clinton wrote.

Gates observed that during her first County Commission campaign four years ago, she discovered she was pregnant with Kamina, and during her campaign for re-election to a second term representing District D, this challenge came along.

"Campaigns have a way of doing things to me," Gates said. "This is something we can overcome."