 Those are numbers so big that they don't hit home. Until you become
one of those numbers, and then just the number "1" is too many.
Bob Shattuck became one of those numbers in April of 2009. Bob
said he first noticed there was a lesion inside his left cheek that
didn't seem right. A visit to an oral surgeon confirmed it was
squamous cell carcinoma.
Many cases of this cancer are slow-moving and easily treatable.
Bob was not that lucky.
Now, just two years later, Bob has undergone three major
surgeries to his face and neck areas, and he still has the cancer.
Bob has also gone through rounds of radiation and chemotherapy, but
he still is faced with a disease being inside his body.
Meeting in his living room, Bob was surrounded by people who love
and care for him. His wife, Mary, daughter Maggie and "The Walkers,"
his pals who walked the back nine at the Elks Club with Bob for many
years, are in the room with him. Their daughter Emily came a bit
later.
Bob married Mary Stahlhut in 1982. They have three children:
Craig, Emily and Maggie. Mary smiled when she said she grew up in
the house next door to where they now live.
Bob is an architectural designer for J.H. Petty in Springfield,
and he says he has done over 100 projects in the Lincoln area,
including West Lincoln-Broadwell School, City Hall, the Rec Center
and the new Humane Society building. Bob said he loves his job and
wants to get back to doing what he loves so much. But for right now,
there is a more pressing matter to attend to: saving his life.
All of "The Walkers" in the room -- Chuck Fricke, Doug Muck, Bob Coombs and
Doug Rader -- had golf stories to tell about Bob. Although a lot of
kidding was going on in the room, it seems Bob took their $5 more
often than they took his.
It was a nervous banter. The room was filled with love and
friendship and caring, and although light topics came up from time
to time, the ominous presence of the cancer in that room could never
be fully ignored.
Bob has problems talking and can be difficult to understand
unless you have been around him for awhile and have become accustomed to
his new speech pattern. He said that he would have his wife do the
talking for him, but he frequently joined in. This is his story, of
course, and he wanted to tell it himself. What has happened to Bob,
although it has affected his family and friends, is personal.
For want of a better expression, Bob looks like he has been in a
train wreck. Surgeons can't afford the luxury of how a patient will
look after a cancer-removing operation. The singular goal is to cut
away the diseased area and any potential surrounding area to save a
person's life. After that, concerns for cosmetic surgery can be
addressed.
The surgeries have been so severe, so massive that the resulting
aftermath to one of the operations made the doctors keep Bob in a
drug-induced coma for eight days. Unable to eat solid foods, he now
receives his nourishment through a feeding tube inserted in his
abdomen.
Bob isn't a quitter. Although he looked worn and tired
beyond his 50 years of life, he wanted to be there to tell his story
and to tell us that he is going to do whatever he can to return to
some semblance of a normal life.
Everyone in the room knew that would be a long, hard, grueling
effort away.
When asked if the friends in the room help cheer him up, Chuck
Fricke broke in with a correction only a millisecond before the
others joined him in saying that it is Bob who picks them up more
than they do him.
"The Walkers" have committed themselves to help Bob and Mary and
the family, not only with fundraisers, but with personal support.
They visit the family a couple of times each week. Others "Walkers
not there this night include Mark Tebrugge, Bob Neal, Tim Smith, Bill
Dickerson and Sam Keys
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An occupational therapist, Mary says that the support and the
frequent visits from their friends have been a strength that she and
Bob so greatly appreciate.
Cancer is just as debilitating, just as destructive to the family
as it is to the victim and the bond between the family members and
their friends hung in the room like a protective shroud, covering
for a moment the realities Bob has faced and still must face in his
fight to live.
Mary said Bob's recent birthday party was a huge event at the
house. More than 50 people came that day to wish their friend well
and to let Bob and Mary and their children know that they were not
alone in this most difficult of times.
Bob left last Monday for the Total Health Institute in Wheaton,
where he will stay for the next six weeks.
The institute uses a holistic approach, where the body is treated
rather than the disease. Using what is called "German New Medicine,"
the institute works to promote total health of the body, mind and
spirit through natural treatments and therapies. They treat the body
to fight the cancer and do not use any surgical approach.
Bob mentioned that some of the things the institute will work on
with him are to reduce his body sugars, bring his internal oxygen
level up and get his lymphatic system flowing at peak operation in
order to allow his body to fight and reject his cancer cells.
This approach comes at an expense that will not be covered by
Bob's insurance, and that is why "The Walkers" have planned two
major fundraisers to assist the family.
As the conversation moved around the room, it was obvious that it
was not only Bob and Mary who had become well-acquainted with the
new treatment plan, but his friends have also become well-versed.
Mary said it is only a possibility that she will see Bob while he
is in Wheaton, as the institute will be intensely working with Bob
and might not allow any outside distractions. She is willing to do
whatever it takes, as is Bob, to rid his body of the disease.
The reality of the matter is that this treatment approach comes
with no guarantees outside of a chance to return to a normal life.
Bob Coombs tried to cheer the room back up a bit by saying, "We
want him back on the golf course so we can get our money back from
him."
Shattuck ended the conversation: "You can't knock me down. I'm
going to make it."
You can help Bob pay the bills in his effort to "make it."
There will be a fundraiser Saturday evening at the Lincoln Banquet Center, 201 Madigan Drive.
See accompanying story for details.
[By
MIKE FAK]
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