Conrad's Story

Team of supporters provide compassionate care

Conrad Knopf didn’t have a strong family history of cancer, but he knew that regular physicals were important, as were getting the recommended screenings, like colonoscopies. In fact, he’d had just such an exam in the spring of 2006 and had received a clean bill of health, which made getting a Stage IV colon cancer diagnosis nine months later nearly unbelievable, except for the excruciating pain in his abdomen.

“It was August 21 and I began experiencing intense abdominal pain. I’d had a little pain the day before, but it was worse on this day,” Knopf says. “My wife was at church and I felt like I really needed to go to the emergency room, so I called a friend over to drive me. I thought my appendix had ruptured or something.”

At the emergency room, the doctors didn’t think it was his appendix, but a blockage of some kind. The doctor performed a CT scan (computed tomography) and saw that something was indeed blocking his lower intestine.

“After two long days of cleaning out my system in the hospital,” Knopf recalls, “the doctor performed a colonoscopy. ‘There it is…’ I heard him say. There was an ugly mass in my colon that turned out to be a malignant 6 to 7-inch tumor that was almost totally blocking my system.”

Treatment begins
Knopf had the tumor and nearly nine inches of his colon removed the next day. During surgery the physician found that the cancer had metastasized, or spread, to Knopf’s liver and several lymph glands, meaning his cancer was Stage IV.

“Very quickly after surgery, the cancer began doing a number on my liver,” Knopf says, and I was beginning to experience jaundice and some mental dysfunction. I was in the hospital for about five days and had nothing to eat, just whatever they gave me intravenously, and I lost a lot of weight.” 

Although they didn’t want him to consume any food, Knopf had no appetite, which persisted even after he returned home.

The oncologist scheduled a catheter implant for chemotherapy treatment, which would begin as soon as he recovered from surgery. However, the site of the incision where his tumor had been removed became infected, delaying treatment and putting Knopf in yet another life-threatening situation. “It was a tough time,” Knopf says.

“I thought I was going to lose him,” says Meledie Knopf, Conrad’s wife. “But we’ve received a lot of miracles and blessings.”

Referrals to SCCA
After learning of his diagnosis, friends of the Knopfs told them about Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), where their daughter was currently undergoing cancer treatment. Another friend (and former hospital administrator), told them they needed to get the best care they possibly could, highly recommending SCCA.

“It was an answer to a prayer,” says Meledie Knopf.  “I had tried to get Conrad to go to SCCA to begin with. Hearing it from others confirmed to him that it was where he needed to be.” 

With a quick phone call from Dr. Robert Hickman, founder of the famous single lumen catheter, who attends the same church as the Knopf’s, Conrad Knopf was quickly referred to the exemplary care of Dr. Edward Lin at SCCA.

The Knopf’s initial appointment with Dr. Lin included a team of people who would help provide care and support during his treatment, including a nurse, nutritionist, and social worker. “He had an army of people in there and after my options were laid out, the decision to proceed, or not, was mine,” Knopf says. “He was very professional yet kindhearted. He is a man of faith, too, which is an attribute that is so important to us. He was very compassionate when he laid out all our options. He told us that when he presented my case study to his fellow oncologists, more than half admitted they’d send me home with hospice care… that my cancer was untreatable. But he said we could treat the cancer aggressively but maintained that it was very important to preserve my quality of life at the same time.”

With less than a 50 percent chance of surviving the treatment, Knopf decided he’d rather fight to live. The day he arrived for his first treatment, Dr. Lin, his nurse, and the social worker met the Knopfs at the clinic. “That they were there for us was an amazing and touching display of support and encouragement,” Knopf says.

Following his first weeks of treatment, Knopf began to lose weight again and wasn’t interested in getting out of bed. “Everything tasted terrible. I wasn’t hungry and I just figured that’s what happened to cancer patients. I was too tired to do anything else.”

Frightened for her husband’s life, his wife called Dr. Lin’s nurse and within minutes there was a call from Dr. Lin himself.

“Dr. Lin persuaded me to get out of bed that day,” says Knopf. “But there were angels holding me up. He told me that the next few weeks were critical to my treatment and that I had to get nourishment because I needed a lot of strength if I was going to make it through. He jolted me up and got me going,” Knopf says. An SCCA nutritionist worked with Knopf to help him find the right foods for him to eat.

“Dr. Lin is a brilliant man,” Knopf says. “Everyone at SCCA is always so upbeat and supportive. They are never grumpy or negative; always positive. They trip over themselves to help you.”

By the end of 2006, Conrad Knopf completed the first round of weekly chemotherapy treatments and his cancer was receding. His treatments moved to every other week and he and his wife are hoping to achieve full remission in time to go fly fishing and travel to some national parks this spring.

For more information about Dr. Edward Lin, click here.

 

January 2007