St. Jude kidney cancer survivor wants to be an example to others

It was 1988, but Lorelyn Swinton still remembers it as if it were yesterday. She was sitting with her toddler, Vincent Cordell, in their hospital room at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® when the phone rang. On the other end was her employer in Huntsville, Alabama — calling to tell her she no longer had a job.

Even though Vincent’s St. Jude doctor had called Lorelyn’s employer to explain the seriousness of the little boy’s cancer and her need to stay by his side, this was years before the Family and Medical Leave Act — and the voice on the other end of the phone was telling Lorelyn that three weeks was just too long to be away from work. She had lost her job, and that was that.

She was stunned, and her mind whirled. Her family’s insurance was tied to her job. How could this happen? What would they do? 

She looked over at her son, and she had never been more frightened.

A few weeks earlier, Lorelyn had felt a hard knot in Vincent’s belly. Alarmed, she turned to the person she trusted most for anything medical — her own mom, Daisy Swinton. 

“I was the scaredy cat in my family,” Lorelyn admits. As the nurse manager of an ICU surgical unit in Alabama, Daisy had seen everything. Lorelyn imagined her mom would dismiss the knot as something minor — and easily remedied. But that’s not what happened. 

Daisy gently laid her hand on her grandson’s side, feeling the knot beneath his skin.  

“You need to take him to the doctor Monday,” Daisy said. 

Nearly 40 years later, Lorelyn can still hear her mother’s voice, clear and insistent. 

On Monday, the doctor sent them to the hospital, where tests revealed Vincent, the youngest of Lorelyn’s two sons, had a tumor in his right kidney. He was referred to St. Jude.  

“I’m thinking, ‘Is he going to die? What’s going to happen? And I’m just scared for him,’” Lorelyn remembered.  

Their pastor came to the hospital and anointed Vincent, praying for his healing and comfort. Lorelyn and Daisy brought Vincent to St. Jude, where he was diagnosed with Wilms tumor, a type of kidney cancer.  

For three weeks, Lorelyn stayed with Vincent at St. Jude as he underwent surgery to remove his right kidney and began recovery. 

Then she got that terrible phone call from her employer.

But St. Jude reassured her: Vincent’s care would not be compromised. Her family would never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food. 

Plus, they still had the income from Vincent’s father’s job.  

“St. Jude was a big help,” Lorelyn said. “They paid for us to eat and gave us gas money,” when it came to Vincent being at St. Jude for appointments. She remembers, “All that helped.” 

A few weeks later, Lorelyn got hired on by Chrysler, to a higher-paying job than the one she had lost. She stayed there for 30 years until her retirement a few years ago.

Vincent received six months of chemotherapy and returned to St. Jude for regular checkups throughout his childhood. “Everybody was so friendly and so helpful with my family and with me,” Vincent said. 

Vincent said his early experience has shaped him, giving him maturity, a desire to stay healthy and active and an appreciation of family. 

The unfairness of his mother’s firing made him determined to create his own opportunities. It helped set the course of his life.

Persistence 

Vincent just wanted to play, but his mom was scared. Football was out of the question — too much of a contact sport.  

His dad had been good at basketball, and Vincent thought he could be good, too. So, basketball became their compromise. 

Throughout middle school, Vincent played basketball wearing the type of thick compression vest that football players wear under their padding.  

“I wasn’t going to let him get hit in the stomach,” Lorelyn said. “No, no.” 

But Vincent didn’t like the vest, not only because of the bulk, but because of the questions from the other kids. 

“They would ask, ‘Oh, you’ve got only one kidney? How is that even possible?’” Vincent remembered. 

Vincent learned to tune everything out but what mattered. He learned how to protect himself as he played.  

“As I got older, I learned how to tighten my core and my midsection so it wouldn’t take those hits,” Vincent said. He was finally able to set the vest aside.  

By the time he turned 14, he’d already shot up to 6-foot-5. He kept practicing. 

“I wasn’t a bad player,” he said. In fact, he was very good. Good enough that California State University, Northridge recruited him. 

College brought more basketball — and that’s where he met and fell in love with Jeneya. Before long, they were married. 

After graduation, basketball offers came from Europe. He could have gone, chasing the game across unfamiliar courts. But he’d seen players return broke, living in childhood bedrooms again. He decided what he really wanted was to start his own business.

“I just had to make a big, big decision regarding my life,” Vincent said. “You live, and you try to figure out how to how to survive in this world.”  

So, he put away his jerseys and court shoes in favor of paychecks, learned business by trial and error. His first venture, a T-shirt company, failed. He kept trying, motivated by his mom’s experience to build something of his own that no one else could take away.

Today, at 40, he runs a thriving trucking dispatch business — a self-made life built on the same persistence that once kept him on the court.  

“With a family business, my kids can take over when I’m long gone and continue it, and they’ll know: ‘My dad really fought hard to make this all happen.’” 

He and Jenaya live in California and have three young children who are all gifted at sports and have athletic dreams. His oldest son made it to the Junior Olympics three years in a row, competing in the 400-meter dash and 100-meter sprint in track.  

They benefit from his advice.  

“I tell them that challenges are just challenges,” Vincent said. “You have to learn to attack them and learn to not run from adversity.” 

Thriving 

Vincent returned to St. Jude last year for a St. Jude LIFE appointment. St. Jude LIFE is a cohort study of pediatric cancer survivors. 

Vincent brought his mom, Lorelyn, with him to St. Jude. She walked the campus slowly, taking in the new buildings and features — additions that speak to how far St. Jude has come in nearly 40 years. 

“It was emotional for her, but it was good,” Vincent said. 

While his health was measured and tracked, she got a massage in the St. Jude Family Commons, a treatment-free zone designed specifically for St. Jude patients and families so they can relax, reflect or recharge. He was glad. She deserved it. 

“She would give up everything for me, and she’s the strongest woman I know,” Vincent said. “She is a warrior.” 

That word stopped her. 

“He called me a warrior, and that makes me so proud,” Lorelyn said. “But I just feel like I was doing what a mother was supposed to do.”

Lorelyn donates to St. Jude every month, feeling connected to families still in treatment. Vincent feels that connection, too. By participating in St. Jude LIFE, he is helping St. Jude researchers understand the health and needs of long-term survivors. This information can guide care plans that help others thrive.

“I want to show anyone who’s going through Wilms tumor or losing a kidney that I’m 40 and still thriving,” Vincent said. 

“One kidney is not an issue with living. You just have to fight through it.”