Beating the odds: NE Ohio couple fights cancer together

FREMONT, Ohio (WJW) — Tough times have been a shadow that has loomed in the lives of Jon and Julie Stawowy of Freemont for more than five years.

But if you ask them, “This is the happiest I’ve been in my life right now and I think you feel the same way. We’re blessed. We have these things we’re overcoming, but were blessed” Jon Stawowy said.

Cancer has been a part of the family’s life for the past six years. It started when his wife, Julie, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017. After a year of chemotherapy and surgeries, she began to get her life back.

It was just at about that time a difficult-to-diagnose lump was found in Jon’s throat.

“That’s when they figured out that it was peripheral T-cell lymphoma,” Jon said.

For the next several months, Jon underwent aggressive chemotherapy and Julie and their two children were at his side for everything.

“I went through the typical things of chemo. Lost my hair, lost weight” Jon said.

“I do feel it was my blessing to have cancer,” Julie said. “Once he had lymphoma, I told him I was thankful to have it because now I know the fear, the anxiety, and all the stuff that he was dealing with. I understood that” 

That love and understanding went a long way in Jon’s treatment, but cancer wasn’t done with the family yet.

“I went 13 months. Thirteen months I was in remission and I actually went to the doctor to get my port taken out because we were all done with the cancer and they gave me one more and that PET scan came back positive for something,” Jon said.

With the cancer back, Jon’s only option was a stem cell transplant. He underwent that treatment and was very weak, but he was recovering.

But then, one day he went to the Cleveland Clinic for some tests because of a persistent cough

“I went in to have the bronchial scope done and I had a reaction and crashed and wound up in the ICU and woke up three days later,” Jon said.

That reaction was a result of Graft vs Host disease. GVHD is when the body begins to reject transplanted tissue or cells.

“Every organ in your body can be affected by this, and in his case, it was the lungs and that could lead to a dangerous and life-threatening situation. I think by the time he got to bronchoscopy his lung function was very low,” Cleveland Clinic Oncologist Doctor Deepa Jagadeesh said.

At that point, Jon is now on a ventilator, his body is rejecting the stem cells and his prognosis is not good. Doctors didn’t think that Jon would make it through the night.

“You think you have some grand epiphany during that moment. You’re probably not going to make it to morning and you got to say goodbye to your family. I just wanted to see my family. I wasn’t going to make any great speeches. I just wanted to hold my family and be with my wife and my kids and wake up the next morning,”  Jon said. “I decided I didn’t want to go to sleep that night because I might not wake up. I wasn’t supposed to wake up. In the morning my wife came in and had crawled into the chair she would sit in and I said, ‘I’m not going anywhere yet.’”

That long night and Jon’s overwhelming drive to live was a turning point for him and his treatment. His doctors worked out a new course to follow.

“We had a trial opening up at that time looking at this drug, Rextrenaleb, for chronic lung GVHD. We talked to him about it and he was willing to try. He went on that trial and has been on that drug since then and doing well.” Dr. Jagadeesh said.

After weeks in the ICU, Jon had to fight some more to get his strength back.

After many months, the man who wasn’t supposed to make it through the night has now been around for more than two years longer.

He now works as an editor for a website that helps educate transplant patients so they can navigate what’s in store.

Jon said Julie and his family’s love and the care from so many others is why he’s still here.

“We’re going to keep going we’re going to keep fighting and keep trying. Thank God for Dr. Jagadesh and thank God for Theresa, the girl whom I never met in person gave me those stem cells. She didn’t know who I was and she gave me this life” Jon said.

But, the story’s not over.

Julie’s cancer has returned, but all that love and care will have to continue to flow.

“John and I are back on the path of coming back to Cleveland Clinic to try to become healthy,” Julie said.

To find out more about Jon and Julie’s story and more about GVHD, click here.