Patient doesn’t let colostomy slow him down

Jan. 21, 2014 – Gene “Smiley” Leuckel, 79, is a basketball player and colon cancer survivor. His physician at a veteran’s hospital referred him to the Siteman Cancer Center following a checkup. Leuckel says he received excellent care from his surgeon, Matthew Mutch, MD. Leuckel now has a colostomy, but he says it hasn’t kept him from continuing to play basketball with “the young guys.”