Local Attorney Survives Trial by Lung Cancer

Attorney Bob Tallman had survived cancer twice thanks to surgery and radiation treatments at Lehigh Valley Hospital. At 61, he felt half his age playing his weekly tennis match.

But when a chest X-ray four years later revealed a suspicious spot on his right lung, he was devastated.

“That’s when my fears began,” he recalls. “I realized this was out of my control.”

Desperate and fearing the worst, he turned for advice to his doctor, Charles Peters, M.D., who sent Bob to see Lehigh Valley Hospital’s chief of thoracic surg e ry Raymond Singer, M.D.

Dr. Singer is a board - certified cardiothoracic surgeon who has performed more lung surgeries than anyone in the region over the past 12 years. He is also a researcher for the National Cancer Institute and the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group.

“Dr. Singer told me that he would take a biopsy of the growth during surgery and have an immediate diagnosis while I was on the OR table,” Bob says. “I felt confident in his explanation and his skills.”

Singer said that if it were cancer, he would remove as much of the lung tissue as needed to prevent the cancer from spreading.

When the spot was found to be malignant, Dr. Singer removed it, along with one-third of Bob’s lung to be safe. Two weeks later, Bob returned to work and soon he resumed tennis.

That was nearly 10 years ago. Today Dr. Singer declares Bob cured, and the semi-retired lawyer has only words of praise for his surgeon.

“Dr. Singer saved my life,” he says. “I’ve never known a doctor with as much skill and dedication to his patients.”

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