Andrew’s Story
The Man, the Myth, the Legend. Andrew, also known as Dman to those who knew him, was a fun-loving guy and the life of the party. Because of his larger-than-life personality, and amazing sense of humor, he had an impact on everyone he met - whether he knew them for 20 years or 5 minutes. He loved his wife, his family, his friends, sports and music. He was a die-hard New York Jets and Atlanta Braves fan and loved the WWE. While he was in college, he even hosted both a Billy Joel radio show and a sports talk radio show.
In May 2019, Andrew married Keri, the love of his life. While on his honeymoon in Hawaii, Andrew’s life changed forever at the age of 35. He started having some chest pain that he thought was just heart burn. After going to the urgent care, he was taken to the ER where they discovered that he had some fluid around his heart. They gave him some medication, kept him a few days for observation and then he was able to enjoy the rest of his honeymoon. Once he returned home to New York, he went to the cardiologist and two weeks later he was rushed to the ER again. The fluid had returned, and he needed to have two liters of fluid drained from around his heart. It was one of the worst cases they had seen, causing him to spend several days in the ICU.
Knowing that this was highly unusual for an otherwise healthy guy in his 30s, his cardiologist ordered more tests and they discovered “debris” by his heart. He was referred to a cardiac surgeon and he was scheduled for a biopsy and surgery to remove the mass. A less invasive biopsy had failed in August, so on September 6th Andrew underwent an invasive biopsy that would require another stay in the hospital. They examined some of the biopsied tissue, and the surgeon was pretty confident it was cancer based on the spindles. Unfortunately, he was correct.
September 11, 2019, Andrew went to his first oncology consultation. It was determined that he did in fact have cardiac angiosarcoma. When he asked how this happens, he was told “extremely bad luck.” Consistent with his fighting spirit and continuous positive attitude, he did not want to know the stage of the cancer and have it impact his fight. He spent the next two weeks recovering from the biopsy and having a port put in, which he always said was one of the best decisions he ever made considering how much he hated needles.
On September 23, 2019, Andrew started a very aggressive chemotherapy that would hopefully reduce the size of the tumor and allow him to have surgery to remove it. Even though this treatment made him feel terrible, he always kept his positive attitude. At his next scan they did an echocardiogram instead of a CT scan and they called to say the tumor was no longer there. What incredible news! He was beyond excited and couldn’t believe it, hopefully putting this all behind him. The cardiac surgeon requested a CT scan before he would approve surgery and the results yielded devastating news. It turned out that not only was the tumor still there, but it had grown and spread to his lungs. The game plan needed to change and so did Andrew’s mindset. Instead of sprinting to the finish line to have surgery, he was now running a marathon, and had to focus on managing the cancer.
He switched his oncologist and to a treatment with more manageable side effects. It stabilized the cancer for a few months, but after the second scan, it was clear he needed something else. His oncologist had his tissue sample tested and it showed that Andrew had a genetic mutation called, TSC-1. After consulting with a peer at Memorial Sloan Kettering, the doctor discovered that Andrew qualified for a clinical trial that was being offered.
In early summer of 2020, Andrew started the clinical trial at MSK. A few weeks later Andrew experienced severe side effects and had to be taken to the hospital. The doctors uncovered he had a deadly infection and had to undergo three lifesaving surgeries. Andrew spent an entire month in the hospital recovering from these surgeries. The silver lining was that the scans showed that the tumor and nodules were positively responding to the treatment. In order to recover from his surgeries and the severe side-effects he had experienced, he was instructed to remain off his treatment for about three months. Days before he was supposed to start treatment again, he was having trouble breathing and had to be taken to the hospital. His oxygen levels were dangerously low, and they admitted him to the ICU where they were prepared to intubate him. Luckily, his oncologist was able to get approval for him to receive treatment while inpatient and he started seeing improvements within days. Doctors were shocked at how quickly he responded. He was the miracle man!
Andrew was able to stay on this treatment until October 2021. As no battle comes easy, he had his fair share of side effects. He experienced mouth sores, neuropathy, fatigue and loss of appetite, but he was happy to be alive and he was able to manage a lot of them. When his body stopped responding to this trial, the decision was made to try another one. Before starting this new treatment, he needed to take a week off in order to rid his system of the old treatment and get an outpatient biopsy. However, on November 15th, 2021, Andrew’s breathing was labored, and he was taken to the ER. The doctors determined it was the cancer spreading in his lungs and they decided to send him home with an oxygen tank until he received his new treatment. However, that didn’t happen. Andrew needed to be admitted to MSK and each day that passed, he needed more and more support. All things considered, Andrew felt pretty good and was in extremely high spirits - talking, laughing, and cracking jokes - typical of Andrew, but his numbers were not reflecting how he felt. The doctors kept referring to him as an anomaly! How can someone with such poor numbers appear to be so “normal”? He needed to have two liters of fluid removed from his lungs and he was on 100% oxygen. Since he was now inpatient, his treatment options were limited and they gave him the best option in hopes of a response. Unfortunately, he was in a race against time and the treatment didn’t have enough time to work. Surrounded by his loving wife and family, Andrew sadly passed away on November 25, 2021, Thanksgiving Day - his favorite holiday.
While going through his cancer treatments, Andrew always remained hopeful, and was grateful to the doctors and nurses at MSK for their hard work and dedication.