UW oncologist explains how star goalkeeper developed rare kidney cancer

Mia Hamant, the University of Washington’s (UW) star goalkeeper, died at the age of 21 from a rare kidney cancer, the school confirmed Thursday.

Scott Tykodi, associate professor at the UW and Fred Hutch campus, an oncologist, and specialist in treating kidney cancer patients, explained why the aggressive cancer struck someone at such a young age.

“Kidney Cancer, that’s a kind of a general, casual term, but what we typically see in adults, what’s called renal cell carcinoma has several different subtypes, and there are a few rare types that are enriched in a much younger patient population, something called a medullary renal cell carcinoma and a translocation renal cell carcinoma that often appears in patients in their late teens, 20s, early 30s,” he told KIRO Newsradio. “And those subtypes respond much less well to the available therapies. And so it’s a real tragedy these rare types that are enriched in younger patients, yet the therapies we have typically don’t work very well at all. So it’s an awful, an awful scenario.”

Hamant was diagnosed with stage 4 SMARCB1-deficient kidney cancer, becoming just the fourteenth documented case of that specific form.

Tykodi said kidney cancer typically affects much older adults, so it is less common to see someone at Hamant’s age be diagnosed.

“It’s quite unusual to have young patients with a kidney cancer diagnosis, and I think it always hurts more to see such a young person struggle with a terrible disease that does not have curative options,” he shared.

Kidney cancer is harder to catch, as there is no organized screening

Unfortunately, kidney cancer is a tricky beast and does not have an organized screening, such as a colonoscopy or mammogram, according to Tykodi. It can also be difficult to see the symptoms of kidney cancer until it’s too late.

“Kidney cancer — sometimes referred to as the great imitator — you can have all sorts of different symptoms that link back to a kidney cancer diagnosis, but it is a tumor arising in the kidneys, and so bleeding into the urine is one of the more common scenarios that send people off to the emergency room to get checked out, and behold, they have a tumor finding in the kidney. That’s not a typically a normal finding. Most people are quite alarmed, and they do seek attention. But other subtleties, having a new pain symptom, feeling fatigued, maybe losing some weight, are really quite vague, and lots of things can contribute to those sorts of symptoms,” Tykodi explained.

He added that many people feel as though something is off, but chalk it up to the flu or a cold.

“They think it’s something that will pass, and only because it persists. They finally reach out to their doctor,” Tykodi said.

Tykodi mentioned that research for kidney cancer is funded less than for breast cancer, lung cancer, or colon cancer. He noted it’s a hard disease to study because there aren’t as many patients, but his team is working hard to find solutions.

“Being diligent to try and move the bar and continue research and continue to find better answers is critically important, and that’s what draws me and my colleagues and others into the field, with the hope that we can ultimately see success and find new therapies and so motivating everybody to try to help raise the bar and keep the research field moving forward,” he shared.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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