Building a comprehensive, coordinated cancer plan requires trust.
When Richard O’Neil first learned he had cancer, he walked out of the hospital and never expected to return.
“They’re the scariest words in the English language,” the 68-yearold engineer said. “You have cancer. And at first, on day one, they were like, ‘Do as I say or you are going to die.’ It was all doom and gloom, and it scared me to death.”
O’Neil tried again months later. This time at another hospital, St. Vincent’s Medical Center, he met with a medical team including Dr. Christopher Iannuzzi, the Medical Director of Radiation Oncology. When they confirmed his diagnosis of an esophageal tumor, again, he walked out.
But this time, his doctors followed up and were persistent. Dr. Iannuzzi called both O’Neil and his son several times over the next months, checking in and gently persuading them to give medical intervention a chance.
“Mr. O’Neil was particularly challenging because he had a deep suspicion about medicine in general and whether it would serve his best interest,” Dr. Iannuzzi said. “I think it’s a matter of trying to build trust with patients. We want to care for them, but we also care about them. We treat them like a person. They are more than a diagnosis. We look at them in a holistic way, their social needs, their family, their financial needs.”
O’Neil was first diagnosed in late 2020, and by the time he walked back into St. Vincent’s Medical Center it was July of 2021.
“It took months to convince him that we were on his side, but as soon as he was convinced, he did everything he needed to do,” Dr. Iannuzzi said. “When we met him, he had a potentially curable malignancy, and we were afraid his window would close.”
The window was closing, but it wasn’t shut.
“By the time I went back in July, I could barely swallow. I drank everything I had to eat, so they had to put a stomach tube in,” O’Neil said. “The tumor was just above my stomach and most of the esophagus had tumor in it.”
To treat O’Neil, Dr. Iannuzzi and a team of several other doctors, technicians and nurses took it one step at a time. He started on radiation and chemotherapy, and if it was necessary, he would go through surgery next.
“Radiation consists of high energy X-rays that can be harnessed and focused at a tumor and the DNA of the cancer cells is changed, and those cells die off,” Dr. Iannuzzi said. “Often you either give it before surgery to shrink things down, or you do surgery first and do radiation and chemotherapy afterward to get rid of any residual cancer there.”
The radiation and chemotherapy regimen was difficult, but O’Neil dedicated his life to the treatment over those weeks. He had 28 radiation treatments and chemo once a week for five weeks. His primary medical team had a radiation oncologist, a medical oncologist and a surgical oncologist in addition to staff from genetics, supportive care, and social work among others.
“It’s a comprehensive approach to the entire patient. We develop a plan, find out what will be best, and one of the team members will present to the patient,” Iannuzzi said.
And O’Neil felt cared for and loved the entire time.
“It was a cohesive unit,” he said. “I would whisper in someone’s ear if I had a problem or question, and, at the end of the treatment, I’d be in an exam room, and the door would open up, and Iannuzzi would be there to answer my question or ease my fear.”
“This is the first hospital that’s been personable like this. These people became a rock on which I stood. It was the technicians, the nurses, the doctors, the whole group, they were just unbelievable. I’m so grateful I did.”
Now on his second leg of the journey, O’Neil is feeling more like himself. He’s been able to eat regular food again and he’s gained back some of the weight he lost. He attributes his success to St. Vincent’s Medical Center.
Dr. Iannuzzi said that becoming part of Hartford HealthCare has helped the cancer institute with expertise, access to clinical trials and a larger working group. He plans on continuing to work with O’Neil throughout the coming years, no matter where the journey leads.
“We try to provide comprehensive, coordinated cancer care and treat patients as if they are a member of our own family. We don’t give up on people,” Dr. Iannuzzi said. “We want to get them the care they need regardless of the effort it takes.”
This is just one example of Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute bringing more specialists and providers to the community. Tune into a live discussion on the CT Post’s Facebook page, where you can ask your questions, Thursday, November 18 at noon. And for more information, log onto stvincents.org/cancer.