A New Jersey veteran diagnosed with an aggressive cancer has surprised his own doctors, and now his case could give hope to other patients.

"I thought I was gonna die"

In December 2024, at age 97, Mountainside resident Teddy Grossi was diagnosed with Stage 4 urothelial cancer, an aggressive and fast-growing type of cancer. Doctors told him without surgery to remove his kidney, he'd have weeks to live.

"They didn't think I was gonna make it," Grossi said.

He had the surgery on Jan. 6, but a PET scan afterwards showed the cancer spread rapidly.

"The first six weeks after the operation, I thought I was gonna die," Grossi said.

Dr. Anna Komorowski, regional director of the Northwell Health Cancer Institute in Westchester, New York, put him on a combination of PADCEV – a targeted therapy – and Keytruda, for immunotherapy.

"A lot of people maybe my age or a little bit younger than me will probably say, I'm gonna die anyways, why should I go for the treatments?" Grossi said. "I said, let's roll the dice. I'm not ready."

"A lot of our trials have the limit on age. So we treat somebody, they're 75 or 80, and then suddenly everything stops. But people are living longer and longer, and we have patients like him who are 97 and very functional, you know?" Komorowski said.

The immunotherapy is an infusion that activates the patient's immune system to fight against the cancer, Komorowski explained.

"When we give immunotherapy, we basically up-regulate the immune system, give them superpowers. And they recognize better, the tumor cannot hide as well from the immune system," she said. "And then we combine it with another agent that is very targeted and we basically burst those cells and attack them with immune system, and this kind of allows the body to fight better."

She added, "Immunotherapy, overall, revolutionized oncology treatments, and it's amazing to see that we can treat the patients, improve their quality of life, and even sometimes cure them."

Patient cancer-free as he celebrates 98th birthday

Grossi, an Army veteran who served in World War II and the Korean War, is now considered cancer-free. Komorowski said his tumor is completely gone.

"It's kind of an example that we should not give up the hope in Stage 4. That cancer is not a stop sign to life," she said.

Grossi continues to receive immunotherapy treatments every three weeks, but he isn't showing any signs of stopping. He's cooking up a storm and spending time with his great-granddaughter, who was born the day of his surgery.

He's grateful for his medical team at Northwell's Phelps Hospital for helping him overcome overwhelming odds.

"I thank God and all the people that I know that prayed for me," he said.

Last week, Grossi celebrated his 98th birthday, making a meaningful wish as he blew out the candles on his cake.

"I wished good health for everybody and what God did for me, do for them," he said.

He said he hopes to celebrate more birthdays to come after being given the gift of more time.

"Life is so precious. I wanna get every minute I can out of it," Grossi said.