Benefit for Steve Johnson

by Jill Funke

Life is quite a journey, and can change very quickly without a moment’s notice. Steve Johnson is well aware of the sharp turns that life can suddenly take. After weeks of not feeling well, he made an appointment and went to see his doctor in April of 2005. Medical staff took an X-ray and performed other testing, but Steve didn’t receive his results until July. One test revealed that the amount of hemoglobin in his blood was very low, and that he was slowly bleeding internally. The first week of August, 2005, he went in for an endoscopy, which showed that Steve had a bleeding ulcer, as well as a tumor. A few days later, the results of the biopsy performed on the tumor confirmed that he had cancer. A CT scan showed that Steve’s cancer had not spread to surrounding organs. However, the diseased mass measured about 5.3 X 3.3 centimeters, and would have to be removed. Steve underwent a gastrectomy, where his surgeon removed his entire stomach, two inches of his esophagus, and eleven lymph nodes from that area in an effort to eliminate the adenocarcinomas type II cancer that had grown inside of him. The surgical team also removed one of Steve’s spleens since he had two.

When explaining the operation to Steve and his loved ones, Steve’s surgeon said that Steve came out just fine. The surgeon added that removing all of the stomach was not a bad thing as he would no longer have stomach acid that could cause complications at a later date. With the stomach out of the way, the surgery team also had better access to the lymph nodes that they needed to remove. At one point in the procedure, the surgeon painstakingly worked around all of Steve’s blood vessels to remove the cancer that was encasing his aorta. While the cancer was very aggressive, the physicians advised that Steve’s prognosis would improve with chemotherapy treatment and radiation. He completed the regimen they prescribed, and tried to return to normal life.

Then, in June of 2006, Steve and his family learned that his cancer had aggressively returned. It showed up in two lymph nodes in his chest, two lymph nodes in his abdomen, spots on his liver, remaining spleen and behind his gallbladder. At this point, Steve was advised that his cancer had changed from a stage IIB to a stage IV. For nine weeks, he underwent another round of chemotherapy treatment, while his family worried about his weight loss and general health. In September, Steve’s oncologist reviewed his most recent CT scan and said that while there was a slight amount of new cancer growth, there were also some improvements that they were happy to see. No new cancer cells were present, some of the cancer along the outer part of Steve’s liver had decreased in size, and other parts had disappeared. Masses in his abdomen either remained the same or diminished in size, there was no change in his gallbladder, and less fluid was appearing. Causing the doctor concern was the growth of the cancer in Steve’s chest lymph nodes and on the posterior of his remaining spleen. Since Steve seemed to be holding his own, he will be allowed to stay on the same course of treatment to which his body responded very well. The oncologist also felt that the resistant zone of cells which weren’t responding to the current treatment may be addressed later with a different medication.

Dealing with his disease on a daily basis, Steve and his loved ones remain hopeful and count their blessings every day. They are touched by the family and friends who have shown their concern and support for the family. When situations like cancer threaten the health of a person, Steve and his family say that the caring they feel from an entire community is overwhelming, and gives them the strength and hope they need to keep fighting for life.