“That’s not going to happen to me” is something we may all think about cancer at one point in our life, and for some, that may be the case. For Scott Cohen, it wasn’t that easy.

Scott was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia at just 48 years old after what he thought was congenital heart disease.

Scott Cohen is the older brother of Dr. Brian Cohen, Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeon with Cohen Orthopedic. Dr. Cohen and Scott are both natives of New York, but both have found “home” in different states. While Dr. Cohen has found a love for southern Ohio, Scott resides in Florida with his wife.

At just 43 years old, Scott began to have health issues and found out that he was born with a congenital heart defect, where sometimes his heartbeat could get up in the 200 beats per minute. At 47 years old, Scott had a heart attack, then 18 months later found himself unable to breathe. After various tests and blood work done, he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, with the FLT3 genetic mutation

His wife, family, brothers – all found themselves in a shock. Sooner rather than later, Scott started chemotherapy and was told that a bone marrow transplant would be the only thing to keep him in remission. His siblings, one of two being Dr. Brian Cohen, had a 25% chance of being a match. Scott jokingly said, “I then yelled at my mother for not having more children.”

Without hesitation, both brothers were tested, and Dr. Cohen was the match! In February 2013, Dr. Cohen began all the pre-transplant steps: physicals, blood work, transfusions, and filtering stem cells. “It definitely wasn’t easy, but I was going to do whatever I needed to, to help save my brother,” Dr. Cohen explained.

On March 23, 2013, Scott was admitted, and the transplant began. Scott didn’t think twice when asked to be a part of a clinical trial. “If I could help save another life or improve the process, I was in,” stated Scott. Scott used the words, “passionate, generous and sincere,” when asked to describe himself. Meanwhile, Dr. Brian Cohen was a match to that as well.

While Scott went into law and has since retired, Dr. Cohen decided to be a physician. Both brothers were/are passionate about their career. Scott practiced law for 33 years and 27 of those he had his own firm. Dr. Cohen has 20+ years of experience in Chillicothe as an orthopedic surgeon, has completed 30,000+ surgeries, and over 100,000 patient evaluations. “I love being a partner in this community, I love supporting the youth and my patients are like family,” stated Dr. Cohen. The generosity of Scott and Dr. Cohen coincidently are unmatched.

In December of this year, Scott will be 10 years cancer free. He’s able to do all the things he did before being diagnosed. In fact, Scott mentioned, “I’m working more now than I did as a lawyer.” To someone that may be fighting the battle of cancer, “Keep your sense of humor. It’s the best medicine,” Scott suggested. When asked, “What’s one thing you can say about your brother,” he said, “Once you’re a friend of Brian’s, you’re a friend for life.”

Dr. Cohen was an advocate for a staff member going through a similar situation during this same time. He has donated to the Ohio Health Lymphoma Society and continues to give back to this community. To join Dr. Cohen in giving back, the team at Cohen Orthopedic asks that you “light the town red” in some way for September, Blood cancer Awareness Month.

Visit cohenorthopedic.com/press/ to learn ways on lighting the town red. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Cohen, call 614-788-0375.