Meet Candace and her brother Bob.

This week’s Team in Training run is dedicated to my friend Candace and her brother Bob. I am humbled by those who have shared their story with me and am honored to run for them. If you have been affected by Leukemia/Lymphoma and would like to share your story or know someone that would, please let me know. I would love to run for you as well!

Bob’s Story

In 2004 I went home to visit my family in Connecticut for Thanksgiving.  I hadn’t seen my brother Bob for about a year so I was shocked at the change in him.  At 5’11” he weighed about 140 pounds – quite a change from the strapping man he used to be at 190.

Turns out he was unable to eat anything and keep it down.  Like a typical man he thought it was nothing serious and hadn’t been to the doctor yet.  However his dramatic weight loss was of great concern to me and the rest of my family.  His appointment was for the week after Thanksgiving.   On the way back to Florida my husband and I talked and I voiced my concerns that my brother was suffering from cancer.

Turns out, after an initial diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, that he had adult non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a disease in which malignant cancer cells form in the body’s lymph system.  Because lymph tissue is found everywhere in the body, the cancer can start anywhere in the body and spread to organs and other tissue.   He had many of the typical risk factors:  older (49), white and male suffering from auto-immune system disorders.

He is a husband and father to three lovely daughters (teenagers at the time of diagnosis), the only son to my parents, and brother to his three sisters.  His diagnosis came just two years after my oldest sister was diagnosed with breast cancer.

His disease is currently in remission.  It was not an easy road for him though.  I guess it never is.  He has never been what we call a “healer.”  All his life he has been stricken with diseases and disorders from which he did not readily recover.

The initial tumor was removed surgically and he was then put on chemotherapy.  I don’t remember the exact timeline and circumstances but the treatment for the cancer was long and difficult.  It involved multiple surgeries – one of which was an emergency procedure to save his life conducted at 3 a.m. – and years of intensive, exhaustive chemotherapy.  It involved installation of a port in his shoulder so he could feed himself as his intestines were not working properly.  It involved being exposed to hospital-borne infections including MRSA which further weakened an already decimated immune system.  It involved weekly blood transfusions to increase his white blood cell count so he could function.  Finally it involved a bone marrow transplant from my middle sister;  she and I were both tested (my oldest sister was not eligible due to her own cancer treatments) and fortunately she was a match; I was not.   Bone marrow transplant requires the patient to be quarantined in the home for many months; visiting requires putting on masks and gowns so as not to infect.  He was so weak that he fell and broke his pelvis requiring him to go to a rehabilitation hospital for 6 weeks as his family could not take care of him.   Although formally in remission he still suffers the effects of the disease:  he still has the port and must take food from it as he cannot ingest enough nutrients to fuel his daily activities.  As anyone who has had one knows, ports get infected.  Last month he was hospitalized to treat the infection with high-dose antibiotics.   The MRSA he was infected with remains in his body and since it is drug resistant he will always be at risk for infections and diseases as his immune system is permanently compromised.

It is amazing what the human body can endure.  Through it all Bob was supported by Jeanne, his wife of 32 years, who should be officially appointed to sainthood for her never wavering support and care.  Today he has gained back enough weight to look like a normal man, he is able to function independently and participate in normal activities.   We can only hope that the cancer does not reoccur.  He turned 55 last month and is now the happy grandfather to a beautiful baby girl born three years ago; I want for him to watch her grow up and play an important part of her life. Some days I think it is a miracle that he is still with us on the planet.  And it is a better place for it.