Craig Stewart says it was “an enormous shock” when his colonoscopy confirmed he had most cancers. Right here’s how this affected person of Dr. Patrick Loehrer has confronted that analysis.
By IU Well being Senior Journalist, T.J. Banes, tfender1@iuhealth.org
He’s a runner. He’s all the time taken care of his well being. He has no historical past of most cancers in his household.
“Given the usual fee at which colon most cancers develops, I shouldn’t have had it. Not solely did I’ve it, it had metastasized in my liver,” stated Craig Stewart. Days earlier Stewart had gotten a CT scan and there was no hint of most cancers. That was Feb. 13, 2017. On the fifth yr anniversary of that analysis, Stewart talked about his remedy plan within the care of IU Well being’s Dr. Patrick Loehrer.
March is Nationwide Colorectal Most cancers Consciousness Month, a chance to coach others concerning the illness of the colon and rectum. Stewart’s message: “I can say with absolute certainty that folks ought to get a colonoscopy on the really helpful age of 45.”
To assist unfold that message, Stewart facilitates a help group at St. Michael’s United Methodist Church, Bloomington, Ind. He met his spouse, Marion Krefeldt, after they had been each college students at Indiana College. She is initially from Aachen, a westernmost metropolis in Germany. They’ve been married for 38 years and have two kids and 4 grandchildren.
The couple has loved many travels again to Krefeldt’s homeland, visiting her mother and father, taking in musical productions, and consuming conventional German fare.
Stewart spent most of his working profession at IU working in know-how. Coincidentally, he collaborated with IU Faculty of Drugs school members to assist speed up analysis and improve a “tremendous laptop heart.” It was a kind of tremendous computer systems that aided within the examination of Stewart’s tumor genome. That analysis helped develop a care plan for Stewart.
“What we all know now could be that my most cancers tumor had eight recognized or suspected checkpoint mutations so it was in a position to develop with much less interference from my immune system than most cancers would usually get,” stated Stewart, 62.
By IU Well being’s Precision Genomics program, physicians and researchers can sequence the DNA and RNA of most cancers cells, evaluate these sequences to regular tissue and establish genetic variations that will trigger the most cancers. They’ll additionally decide particular remedies for the most cancers.
Stewart’s remedy started with chemotherapy, radiation, and surgical procedure.
“I rang the bell anticipating to depart the infusion heart in October 2017 however comply with up scans in April 2018 confirmed I had a liaison in my liver,” stated Stewart. “The preliminary perception was surgical procedure hadn’t gotten all of it so we’d go in and take extra of the liver.” IU Well being’s Dr. Michael Home, who focus on surgical oncology, reviewed tissues that had been sequenced displaying the checkpoint of the mutations.
“The rationale was that it will develop again and it did,” stated Stewart. In August of 2019, with Dr. Loehrer serving as principal investigator, Stewart was enrolled in an immunotherapy trial.
“The immunotherapy stored the most cancers at bay after which it got here again in my liver and I’ve been on chemotherapy since. It’s not tremendously enjoyable however each two weeks I really feel beneath the climate for 2 days and the remainder of the time I nonetheless really feel effective,” stated Stewart. His well being and power allowed him to run in six races final yr. He completed first in his age group in three of the races and was one of many first 10 finishers in a kind of races. A kind of races was the “Hoosiers Outrun 5K.” He competed within the “Do Indiana Off Highway” (DINO) race at Mounds State Park in Anderson earlier this month.
“I’m not slowing down,” stated Stewart. When he and his spouse make an prolonged journey to Germany later this month, he’ll proceed his chemotherapy at a close-by hospital.
“I can’t say sufficient about Dr. Loehrer and IU Well being Simon Most cancers Heart. Once I first met Dr. Loehrer he instructed me he’d do his finest to treatment me and if he couldn’t treatment me, he’d do his finest to supply me with a very good high quality of life and that he’d all the time be trustworthy with me. He’s completed precisely that,” stated Stewart. “He’s a wonderful oncologist and a incredible researcher. I’m alive at the moment for 2 causes – IU Well being Simon Most cancers Heart and my spouse.”
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