Mayor diagnosed with amyloidosis
Stowe in need of bone marrow transplant
Porterville Mayor Milt Stowe joined Councilman Monte Reyes on a tour of The Dixie Group’s carpet yarn plant on Tuesday. It was a good day for the mayor. Stowe, who was elected mayor the day he took office in 2014, has good days and bad days as he battles a rare form of cancer. The mayor is battling amyloidosis. He said that the source of his cancer is his bone marrow and it will take a bone marrow transplant for him to get better. Because his cancer has attacked his heart, a heart transplant may be needed as well. He said his doctors are confident and he will begin treatments this week to get him ready for the bone marrow transplant.
“He (his doctor at UCLA) told me you don’t have to worry. We’ve got this. He told me, we can fix this,” said Stowe.
However, the illness is sapping his energy and that is keeping him from his very busy schedule he has always kept. Tuesday was a good day. He was able to sit down for an interview and then met the new owners of the yarn plant. However, he has had to cut back, but vows to stay on as mayor as long as he can.
18-month ordeal
It was about a year and half ago when Stowe began to feel something was wrong. He was becoming more fatigued and, at times, short of breath.
“I’m a runner and a referee. I thought, ‘this isn’t right,’” he said.
His first test came back negative.
“Everything looked OK, then why am I doing this,” he said of how he felt.
At first, his doctors thought he had congestive heart failure, a serious illness, but one that can be controlled. A clinic in Santa Barbara confirmed that.
“It just kept progressing and getting worse. My primary doctor said this is not right,” he recalled, and she sent him to UCLA where a cardiologist looked at his chart and did an echocardiogram. They found the walls to his right heart chamber had thickened twice as much. That was because the cancer he has allows the abnormal proteins from his bone marrow to attach to organs, in this case the heart which is commonly referred to as stiff heart syndrome or cardiac amyloidosis. But this can happen to just one or multiple organs most commonly the heart, kidney, liver and intestines.
Everything was confirmed in June following a stay at UCLA and biopsy. He said the cancer is found in African Americans and it can be genetic, which he first thought or it can be caused by the bone marrow. The mayor’s cancer is being caused by the bone marrow.
“That’s when he told me we’ll have to do a bone marrow transplant first to slow down the amyloids going to the heart,” he said.
If that can be successful, then he may not need the heart transplant and so far his heart is holding up well. However, he has lost weight and said his inactivity is reducing his muscles.
“It’s hard for me do not do any exercise at all,” he said.
He is very thankful for the Roger Good Cancer Treatment Center in town where he can be treated. He was not wanting to have to drive to Los Angeles for treatments.
He said the goal is to slow down what the cancer is doing to his heart, then undergo the bone marrow transplant, which could come in about three months.
Committed to City
He wants to continue as mayor.
“If I feel I can’t, I will resign,” he said, but added he loves his job and this city.
He became emotional when he spoke of all the support he has received.
“John (Lollis, city manager) and staff have been tremendous. Fellow councilmembers have covered for me. I get emotional, not for what I have, it’s for the support I get from the community. I love this town,” he said.
Vice Mayor Cam Hamilton said everyone is behind the mayor “100 percent.”
“He’s a tough guy. I think he’s a brave guy and will absolutely get through this,” said the vice mayor.
Stowe came to Porterville in 1970 from Wasco to play sports at Porterville College. He went on to Sacramento State where he played baseball, never thinking he would end up in Porterville. It was not long after that he took a job as a baseball coach here and has called Porterville home ever since. He went to work for the city in 1982.
He served in the Parks and Leisure Services Department for many years, but after being passed up for the director’s position, he left and became Parks and Recreation director for the City of Tulare.
It was City Manager John Lollis who coaxed him back as head of the parks department and also gave him the title of assistant city manager. He held that position until he retired in 2012.
“This has been home. Friends have embraced me,” said the 64-year-old mayor.
He also said he has had several offers from people willing to donate their bone marrow and his family, while extremely concerned, have been working through the stress of it all.