photo by: Contributed Photo

Mat Schwenk is pictured with his wife, Heather Schwenk.

Mat Schwenk was in the middle of a major change in his life — moving to Lawrence — when he started to notice that his breathing wasn’t right.

He could take normal breaths, but he struggled to take deep ones. At first, he thought it must be stress, anxiety or lingering COVID symptoms. But that all changed when he received a phone call from LMH Health following his chest X-ray — a call that came when he was driving his kids to their first day at school.

“They said I needed to come in for a CT scan immediately,” Schwenk said. “My first thought was, ‘This is something serious.'”

Schwenk hurried into LMH Health for his scan and then met with Dr. Jodie Barr, an oncologist with the LMH Health Cancer Center. The testing had found a potentially cancerous tumor pressing against his trachea, and more scans were needed.

“I was able to get in for a biopsy within a few days,” Schwenk said. “Dr. Barr knew it was cancerous before the CT scan results came back — she knew it from the blood levels and sort of prepared me for it psychologically.”

Schwenk’s tumor turned out to be a rare form of testicular cancer that formed when he was an infant. It was caused by leftover embryonic tissue that traveled up in his body and came to rest behind his breastbone. Over time, the tissue grew and developed into a cancerous tumor.

Barr said only a small percentage of people develop this type of cancer. “With Mat’s case, he leans into that percentage, making his diagnosis very rare.”

Treatment begins

The initial treatment for this type of tumor is aggressive chemotherapy. If some tissue remains after chemo and further scans, surgery is needed to remove the remnants.

Within an hour of the diagnosis, Schwenk checked into LMH Health and was scheduled to start chemo the following morning. He was prepped to complete four rounds of chemo, each one eight hours long.

“After just one round, I remember telling Dr. Barr, ‘I can breathe again,'” said Mat.

The treatment was shrinking his tumor, but Mat struggled from the side effects of chemo. For the next couple months, he was in and out of the hospital and started to fear that he was going to fail.

“It’s not just the chemo and the reaction to chemo — it’s the side effects of the chemo,” said Heather Schwenk, Mat’s wife. “His red blood cells were too low, and he needed a transfusion. We had many ER visits from the side effects. We were worried about brain bleeding, and it all became overwhelming.”

Into surgery

Following chemo, the tumor shrank by 60%. Mat was now able to have the remaining tumor tissue surgically removed. He was referred to a specialty center for his surgery, which was performed just three days before Christmas.

“I was sad to be in the hospital over the holidays without my family.” Mat said. “On top of that, it was a serious surgery with tons of needles, IVs and tubes which was uncomfortable and mentally challenging.”

Several days after treatment, Mat was able to return to LMH Health for care. And forty-five days after his operation, the doctors confirmed that his tumor had been entirely removed and no cancer remained. Soon he was back to doing household chores, driving and getting back into his routine.

Support from the community

The Schwenk family endured many obstacles throughout their cancer journey, such as rearranging important celebrations, missing out on holidays as a family, coordinating child care and pausing work. Mat said he was thankful to his family and friends for their support — most of all to Heather.

“Comically, I scrolled to the bottom of Instagram for entertainment during all this,” Mat said. “But really, I would say my wonderful wife got me through it. She just kept the things going and kept life as normal as possible for our family which allowed me to have some space to just go through it.”

Despite the stress and the series of hospital visits, Mat also is grateful for the quality of care he received at LMH Health.

“Dr. Barr is straight from heaven,” he said. “I remember her saying at our first appointment ‘We are going to take care of you,’ and those words meant the most because you feel very lonely and scared with your diagnosis. Part of what got me through this journey was Dr. Barr’s confidence about curing my cancer.”

Mat’s gratitude extends to the entire nursing staff and how they rallied behind him to provide the best care possible.

“The oncology and hospital floor nurses were incredible and checked up on me throughout my several weeks of chemo,” he said. “During that first week, there was an amazing overnight nurse at LMH Health, and man, she just got it. She got me.”

The support didn’t stop at LMH Health. The Schwenks were overwhelmed by the community’s acts of service and kindness. Neighbors they hadn’t gotten to know yet wrote their family notes, parents at school brought them food and members of the community vowed to pray for their family and Mat’s recovery.

“Lawrence reached out and the support was sincere, deep and profound from the community at large,” Heather said. “It was very overwhelming being new and knowing how much people cared. Not only did people really show up for us, but they truly meant it.”

Heather made a shirt for Mat to support him and bring positivity in the midst of very difficult times for him and their family — one that boasts “Lawrence is the best place to have cancer.” He wore that shirt to see Barr on the day he got the good news that he was officially cancer-free.

“Mat’s shirt is awesome because it shows you the quality of care we give, but also the personalized care that’s close to home,” Barr said. “That’s exactly what we are about at LMH Health.”

Mat is grateful to have his life back after his long and challenging journey, and he says he’s proud to proclaim that he’s cancer-free thanks to the care he received.

“People have our back here, and I am very thankful to LMH Health for the care they gave me,” Mat said. “And that’s why Heather got me this shirt. Lawrence truly is the best place to have cancer.”

— Katie Dankof is a marketing and communications intern with LMH Health, which is a major sponsor of the Journal-World’s Health section.