Radioactive Dad: Cancer Patient Calvin Innes Forced To Wait Three Weeks Before Holding Newborn Son
![Calvin Innes](https://d.medicaldaily.com/en/full/248765/calvin-innes.jpg?w=620&f=d0e67e2af319c0ec7c64fe74f56b2cd6)
Just two weeks before his son's birth, Calvin Innes was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and immediately underwent surgery to have a tumor near his throat removed. The surgery was successful, but required him to follow-up by taking radioactive cancer-fighting drugs that were so strong they prevented him from touching his newborn son, Cohen.
"When you take the pills you become radioactive and for three weeks I wasn't allowed near my newborn son," said the 29-year-old Brit. "I couldn't pick him up, I couldn't feed him, play with him or change his [diaper]."
Innes was prescribed a daily drug regimen which included radioiodine, which makes the patient's body radioactive. Radioiodine is taken in a liquid or capsule form to destroy the thyroid gland and any other thyroid cells, according to the American Cancer Society. It's usually used to get rid of any remaining cancer cells that were not removed during surgery. Patients who are using radioiodine therapies are told to stay away from people with vulnerable immune systems — for instance, newborn babies.
"It was awful because I was having to watch my wife Kali do all these things and I was unable to help," said Innes. "While you're on the treatment, they have to check you with a Geiger counter every day to see how radioactive you are and if you're safe to be around people."
Innes couldn't even be in the same room with his new baby. According to the Daily News, the strength of his therapies could've proven fatal to his newborn son if he came in contact with them.
His levels have lowered to a point where he is now able to hold and cuddle his newborn son, something that he appreciates more than the average dad after being prevented from doing so for so long. His battle with cancer is not over though, as he awaits the final results of cancer testing done last month.
For more information on thyroid cancer and how you can identify the signs, go to the Mayo Clinic.