Gov. Phil Murphy, known for his incredible recall of minute details, said he can’t remember whether he was getting an MRI or a CAT scan when he visited a doctor back in February 2020. In fact, Murphy said he can’t even remember what pain or concern caused him to have the scan.
He does remember the outcome: He was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on his left kidney.
It’s a moment he’ll never forget.
“I found out through a complete fluke that I have cancer,” he said. “I was doing either a CAT scan or an MRI for a completely different complaint, which turned out to be nothing. And the doctor who analyzed the (results) said, ‘Hey, by the way, you’ve got a problem on your kidney.’ He referred it immediately to my (general practitioner), who then referred me to a kidney specialist.”
Soon after, he got the news — and was told he needed to have surgery right away.
Years later, Murphy said he realizes how fortunate he was.
“The one thing I would say is, get yourself checked regularly,” he said. “This was a complete fluke that I found this as early as I did. Talk about how it’s better being lucky than smart.”
His luck was just beginning.
Murphy announced the diagnosis to the public Feb. 22, 2020. He had surgery March 4 in New York City and left the hospital three days later — a few weeks before the pandemic changed everything, including rules and regulations around surgeries in hospitals.
The timeline was important.
“When I was leaving, COVID was about to explode,” he said. “I was lucky I got in, because (one week later) they would have characterized cancer surgery as elective. Just think about that for a second.”
The impact of the pandemic was just starting to be felt.
Murphy made his first public appearance March 13 — nine days after his surgery — and hasn’t slowed down since. He has been cancer-free throughout the rest of his administration.
A little more than five years after his cancer scare, Murphy spoke with BINJE about how cancer impacted his life then — and the impact it still has to this day.
Here’s a look at the conversation, edited slightly for length and clarity.
BINJE: People talk about the humanizing moment they hear the words, ‘You’ve got cancer.’ What was it like for you?
Gov. Phil Murphy: Cancer was not on my list of concerns. Heart disease has been an issue in my family. My dad died of a stroke. My brother died young of a heart attack. I’ve had uncles with either stroke and/or cardio issues.
My GP for the past 30 years is a cardiologist, deliberately, because that’s the thing that I was most focused on. This was out of left field. And it was born out of a test I was taking for something else. So, it was a shock.
But then, pretty quickly, they said: ‘This is manageable. While it’s a major surgery, we do it all the time, and there’s no reason to believe that you can’t get through this.’
BINJE: You were supposed to take two to four weeks off to recover, but you famously returned to public life nine days after your surgery, leading one of your pandemic press conferences March 13. When did you really return to work?
PM: I came out of the operation, went to recovery, got to my room, checked my messages, still groggy, literally, and the first text is from (then-chief of staff) George Helmy, saying that we had our first confirmed COVID case in New Jersey that day. That was kind of stunning.
(Murphy stayed in the hospital until Saturday, rarely putting his phone down.)
From the moment I got that text from George, even though (Lt. Gov.) Sheila (Oliver) was on the bridge of the ship, as they say, and doing a great job, I was all over it from the hospital and then from home.
“You should have a plan. And I have a decent plan. I have an annual appointment with my guy. I do other checkups: eyes, ear, nose and throat, skin. I’ve got the Irish skin, so I’ve got to occasionally go in and make sure that there’s nothing untoward there.”
I had hoped to take two to four weeks off, gradually getting back in the game, but that just wasn’t in the cards. The first press conference I did after the surgery was Friday, March 13, and then we had to make some monumental decisions almost immediately.
(Murphy made the decision to close the schools in New Jersey the following Wednesday, March 18).
I’m not John Wayne or Gary Cooper. I had no choice but to get back more fully into the game.
BINJE: Did you take any extra precautions?
PM: I had to be careful; I was at risk. But we knew so little about COVID at that point that I’m not sure that necessarily led me to take steps that I should have taken. As you may recall, it was unclear whether masking was good or bad, believe it or not, in March of 2020.
BINJE: Did your doctor or first lady Tammy Murphy try to slow you down — or did they know there was no chance of that happening?
PM: I think the latter. Tammy was with me every step of the way, and you couldn’t have a better partner, but she knew that the world was coming to an end, as it were.
I also didn’t do anything stupid. I would not want people to think that I was careless. We monitored the pace and the rooms that I was in. Interestingly, this was, again, before we knew how (COVID) was transmitted. That press conference on March 13 was at the State Police (Regional Operations and Intelligence Center), in a room much smaller than the ones that we ultimately found ourselves in, whether it was the War Memorial or in Newark.
So, yeah, it was faster than I should have come back, but I also did it as carefully as I could.
BINJE: People often make lifestyle changes after a cancer scare. You’ve always been in great shape. We’ll admit, we couldn’t keep up with you the few times you’ve had a media jog. Did this cancer scare make you do anything to change your lifestyle?
PM: I’d love to be able to tell you that I had a wake-up call, and I learned my lesson. But they didn’t ascribe the cancer to any specific element of my lifestyle. In other words, they didn’t say, ‘You ate too many carbs or you drank too much booze or you didn’t exercise enough.’ There was no specific connection. So, the answer is no — and for decent reason in the sense that I was not led to believe, ‘I got cancer because of X, Y and Z.’ Therefore, I wasn’t instructed to change my life around X, Y and Z, either.
BINJE: Let’s fast forward to May of this year — to the ribbon-cutting of the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center in New Brunswick. You do a few ribbon-cuttings a week. Did that one have any added significance?
PM: I was overwhelmed by the importance of that center and what Jack and his family have done, so that part was incredible. But, as a personal matter, it didn’t hit me any harder than it would have if it were another health care lane. I’m not sure I’ve got a good answer as to why, but that’s just the truth.
As I said, if anything, heart disease is a much bigger deal in my family than cancer has been. I’m knocking on wood. I hope it stays that way.
BINJE: You have been cancer-free since the surgery. But that’s only known because you are tested and scanned on a regular basis, as is every cancer survivor. How often are you scanned?
PM: It started as monthly checkups, then six-month checkups. The doctor made the decision to go to annual visits after one of the six-month checkups, which was in September. So now, every September, I have a checkup. So far, everything’s clean as a whistle, so far, thank God. I hope it will continue to be all right.
BINJE: Last question. We appreciate your willingness to talk about your cancer journey — it’s something you have not done much in the past. Is there a desire to keep this a personal matter — or is it just something that hasn’t come up? And do you ever foresee a situation where you could be a spokesperson for cancer care?
PM: There’s no big-picture reason why I haven’t done so before. And I’m not sure my voice would help, but if it would help, it would be in the statement I made earlier: I got lucky — and that shouldn’t be how you deal with your own personal health.
You should have a plan. And I have a decent plan. I have an annual appointment with my guy. I do other checkups: eyes, ear, nose and throat, skin. I’ve got the Irish skin, so I’ve got to occasionally go in and make sure that there’s nothing untoward there.
This is one I missed. I’m not sure it’s specific enough that you should have an annual abdominal CT scan, but that’s what I got. And I got lucky.
