My diagnosis was anaplastic thyroid cancer. My experience with the Clayman Thyroid Cancer Center was professional, thorough, compassionate, empathetic and sensitive. Every effort was taken to reduce my astronomical stress levels.
I arrived from out of state for emergency surgery and still every question and need was quickly and efficiently addressed.

Dr. Clayman’s immediate and personal response to our initial inquiry was nothing short of remarkable.

I am writing this 4 months after successful surgery and just had a cancer free imaging result.

Submitted March 18, 2018

I read the story below about the guy's fiance having Medullary Thyroid Cancer but they called it "Chuck." I believe the whole story because I, too, experienced the kindness of Dr. Gary Clayman as his patient in Sept 2017. I went to him after getting the advice of many doctors who were friends of my friends or family members who are doctors. One highly regarded medical doctor said to one of my friends to tell me, "If she were my daughter, I would send her to Dr. Clayman because he is an excellent human being and a top notch surgeon." Dr. Clayman saved my life. There is no evidence whatsoever of cancer in my body on any follow up blood tests. He operated on me at 3 pm and by noon the next day, I was walking on the beach and eating whatever I wanted, without ever taking a single prescribed pain pill. My scar is too small to see now. I am a 51 year old mother of four children ages 11, 13, 15 and 20, and because of Dr. Clayman and his staff, I get to live my life believing that my husband and I will one day dance at my childrens' weddings and later on down the line get to spoil my unborn future grandchildren. Thank you God for making men like Gary Clayman and his entire staff!!

Submitted March 1, 2018

In early September 2017 my fiancé was diagnosed with MTC (Medullary Thyroid Cancer). If you’re reading this you are probably also dealing with some kind of thyroid cancer diagnosis. You’re probably freaking out just like we were when hearing the word cancer. I have a background in research and also in health science, thus I immediately started to comb every single website for information about thyroid cancer. I looked on FB for a group where I could ask questions of others who had to deal with this very, very rare cancer. Everyone kept telling me, “Go to MD Anderson in Texas.” We don’t have family there or any support, so I kept looking and looking. Finally, I googled “best thyroid cancer surgeon in the world.” It was almost a joke that I did that, but then Dr. Clayman did in fact come up in my search.

I went to his website and filled out a little bit of the online questionnaire, but didn’t have all of my fiancé’s information so I had to save the google doc and go back later. Well, here’s where the joy comes in… I had put my fiancé’s phone number, email and our address in CA, but not much else. Within less than 24 hours Dr. Gary Clayman called and texted my fiancé. What surgeon who is considered ‘the best in the world’ does that? It wasn’t his assistant. It wasn’t an office worker. It was the guy! The surgeon called. The surgeon who had absolutely no proof of insurance from us. The surgeon who had not gotten a consulting fee. The surgeon who really had no assurance of anything. All this guy knew was that my fiancé had cancer. Now, if any of you have ever had to deal with a surgeon, you know this is not a common practice. These men and women are medical rockstars and do not typically behave this way at all. So, who was this dude? I looked further to see if I could find any dirt on Dr. Gary Clayman. There is no way this guy was real. But, I couldn’t find anything except for glowing reviews. In fact, I couldn’t read all of the testimonials I found because there were so many!

It gets better. My fiancé was going to be at work and then on a plane until roughly 9pm PST. Dr. Clayman lives in Tampa (we have family there), so 12am his time. He still insisted on having a call with my fiancé when she landed. Yep, this super hero surgeon made time at a late hour to talk to my girl. She was crying and afraid. So was I. We told him we didn’t like to use the “C” word so we were calling it “Chuck.” He said that he would give Chuck a quick and painful death. He assured my fiancé that he would save her life and take care of her. He talked her off the ledge. He talked to her about positive thinking, about nutrition and exercise. He was a human being. He made us laugh and feel like everything was going to be okay.

8 weeks later we went to Tampa for the surgery. Again, the staff was just amazing. Just couldn’t have been any more helpful and kind. Finally, the man – Dr. Clayman. He came in and the first thing he did was hug us both and let us know he was going to take care of her. He told us a funny story about his father and even used down to earth colorful language, which I deeply appreciated. He even said he loved us and hugged and kissed my fiancé again. I actually thought, this dude doesn’t do surgery; he actually kills evil cancer with his loving spirit, thoughts and energy. And so it was… He killed Chuck. The tests came back 6 weeks later and her number was 3! Normal calcitonin is between 1-10. Lee's was over 500! Dr. C said, "Chuck is dead! Wow, great number! Amazing!"

Dr. Clayman, I don’t know if you read these things, but brother – please don’t ever change. Please always stay true to the kind, warm, loving and good person you are. You have no idea what a difference it makes that you are so gentle, assuring and positive. Despite having an extraordinary skill, you being so approachable, down to earth, and caring are what make you the best thyroid cancer surgeon in the world. Lee and I will be eternally grateful for your care. Thank you so very much!

Submitted Jan. 5, 2018

I was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer in June 2017. I had a single malignant nodule on my isthmus. My endocrinologist recommended Dr. Clayman as the best due to his incredible thoroughness in all aspects of thyroid cancer and current knowledge on the latest treatments.

I scheduled an appointment to be evaluated by him. After a biopsy, an ultrasound, a CT scan, and bloodwork, Dr. Clayman told me that he might be able to save the left lobe of my thyroid, since it didn’t look like the cancer had spread outside of that single nodule. He wouldn’t know for sure though until he was in surgery with me.

Dr. Clayman does something that I hadn’t heard of any other thyroid surgeon doing. During surgery, he biopsies all surrounding tissues and lymph nodes. He then tests them or malignancy DURING surgery. This gives him immediate information to act upon in order save as much thyroid tissue as possible while ensuring that all the cancer is gone.

During my surgery, Dr. Clayman biopsied multiple areas in and around my neck. All came back benign. This meant that the cancer had not spread from that single nodule and he was able to save the left lobe of my thyroid. When I woke up from surgery, Dr. Clayman gave me the news and a big hug.

Today, I am not on any thyroid medication and my hormone levels continue to be normal. Days go by where I forget I even had cancer. This is all due to Dr. Clayman, and I owe my quality of life to him.

I understand that I may have had a simple, non-complicated case of thyroid cancer, but I wanted to show how Dr. Clayman’s approach to thyroid cancer truly does give you the best outcome possible.

Submitted Dec. 14, 2017

Procedure dates by Dr. James Norman and Dr. Gary Clayman - October 3 & 4, 2017
At 15 years of age, I had my thyroid removed as a preventive measure for medullary thyroid cancer. Then approximately 17 years later I began to develop two different health issues at one time. My family physician referred me to a specialist in Cleveland, Ohio, due to a rise in my calcitonin level which indicates a cancerous tumor developing somewhere (probably in tissue left behind from my thyroid removal). Around the same time, it was discovered that I was developing a tumor on my parathyroid gland as well ( rarely cancerous). Multiple tests and scans were performed and these tumors could not be located. Exploratory surgery was performed to try and find my parathyroid tumor. This surgery resulted in the removal of three good parathyroid glands, but not the bad parathyroid gland. The doctors indicated that maybe I had an abnormal anatomy and at some point I might need my chest bone opened to explore that area for the parathyroid gland that contained the tumor. Shortly after I had the parathyroid surgery, in researching my health problems, I found information about the Norman Parathyroid Clinic. Everything seemed too good to be true, but we always kept this facility in mind. Several years later I switched to a specialist closer to home. I asked if she had ever heard of Norman Parathyroid Clinic and she said they had helped a patient of hers. Over the years she attempted to find my cancerous tumor, but nothing ever showed up in my tests and scans (even though my calcitonin levels continued to rise). My symptoms from my parathyroid tumor were beginning to get worse. It had been over 20 years since my second surgery and each time we tried to locate the cancerous tumor it was not found. I decided to address the tumor on my parathyroid because by this time I was growing tired of the multiple kidney stones, all the tests that this kept requiring, and all the time off from work due to several kidney stone surgeries. It was time to try the Norman Parathyroid Clinic. The multiple surgeries I had made my case more difficult and there was no guarantee that my parathyroid tumor could be found. The entire process, working with the staff at Norman Parathyroid Clinic, was so easy and they were so professional and wonderful to work with. The consultation was completed by phone and I was told that I was not an easy case. Due to all the scar tissue from previous surgeries there was no guarantee that the parathyroid tumor would show up on the Sestamibi scan and be located but they were willing to try. I arrived in Tampa, had my Sestamibi scan, and the tumor showed. While waiting in the prep room for my mini-surgery, Dr. Norman stops in to talk and we discussed my high calcitonin levels and I inquired if this surgery would take care of this as well. He informed me that this was an entirely different issue and after discussing the medical history regarding this that he was postponing the surgery until the next day. He stated that he was going to get the thyroid cancer specialist, Dr. Clayman, to see me for a consult and more tests would need to be ran and there was no way in good conscious could he perform his parathyroid surgery before this had been checked out. Dr. Clayman came in for his consult and ordered testing, which led to biopsies that showed the cancer. A dual surgery was then scheduled for the following day. Dr. Norman handed me over to Dr. Clayman so he could perform the surgery to remove my medullary thyroid cancer, but Dr. Norman would perform his surgery to remove the parathyroid tumor. Cancer was found in my neck and on a nerve near my vocal cord, if it had been left much longer I would have lost my voice. After surgery the aching in my legs cleared up immediately. My parathyroid hormone levels have dropped from over 100 to 9 and my calcium levels are now within normal range. Calcitonin levels have dropped from around 300-400 to less than 2. I received the most professional, loving care from everyone that was involved in my care including all the staff at the Norman Parathyroid Clinic, the Thyroid Cancer Center, Tampa General Hospital and especially Dr. James Norman, Dr. Deva Boone and Dr. Gary Clayman. Not only did they treat me as a close friend or a relative, they also treated my wife with excellent hospitality. The care did not end after the surgery though, I have been in touch daily with Dr. Boone for updates and instructions and this was at their request. I highly recommend the Norman Parathyroid Clinic and The Thyroid Center and wish I had known about them earlier and sought treatment from them prior to previous surgeries. The Norman Parathyroid Clinic and the Thyroid Cancer Center was truly a blessing to me and I could not be more thankful for everything I experienced during this past year with them!
Greg Moore,
Ripley, WV

Submitted Dec. 2, 2017

I have not had much exposure to hospitals and have never had surgery so I was very anxious and apprehensive about the diagnosis and the procedure. From the moment I spoke with Dr. Clayman and interacted with his staff, I was put at ease and confident that I made the right decision in traveling from NY to FL for treatment by Dr. Clayman. Tampa General Hospital was phenomenal and the care I received, superb! I highly recommend Dr. Clayman, his attentive and experienced staff as well as Tampa General Hospital.

Submitted Dec. 2, 2017

Dr. Clayman and his staff are incredibly great through all the step of operation and the result was very successful

Submitted Nov. 28, 2017

Immediate personal response, incredibly thorough pre-op testing, compassionate staff and Dr. Clayman is a marvel - cutting one's throat is daunting - he takes the fear away and fixes the problem with hardly a scar!! If only all my doctors had this skill and attitude!

Submitted Sept. 21, 2017

I cannot express all my gratitude to Dr. Gary Clayman. He is the best surgeon in the field: Caring with his patients, precise in his diagnosis, and fully dedicated.

Dr. Clayman and his staff helped me before, during, and after the surgery. I highly recommend him to all people I know.

Marvelous, really marvelous!

Submitted Sept. 4, 2017

Dr Clayman is a great doctor, a top thyroid surgeon in the world, maybe the best one. I will be grateful to him now and always! extremely professional, very warm, providing great care, before and after surgery, together with his well appreciated team! he removed successfully my cancerous thyroid. Great experience, dealing daily with thyroid surgeries. If you care about your life, it is worthwhile to become his patient even you come from another continent! with high gratitude, now and always, Cezarina/Romania

Submitted Aug. 21, 2017