A FIGHTING
CHANCE
WHEN A TUMOR APPEARED FROM NOWHERE AND NEARLY KILLED A YOUNG PATIENT, A TEAM OF TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL AND USF HEALTH PHYSICIANS FOUGHT BACK By Dave Scheiber It began with a nagging cough. The sound was a bronchial hack that Noah Schwartz attributed to springtime allergies. After all, he was in excellent health at age 24—a strapping young man from Jupiter, Florida, with upcoming plans to move to Los Angeles with a pal from his alma mater, the University of Miami, and grow their budding music company. But then came the shortness of breath and difficulty sleeping on his back at night, forcing him to sit upright in bed. Since this was April 2021, with serious COVID-19 cases on the rise, Noah wondered if he might have contracted the virus. He tested negative. His primary doctor in Miami suspected bronchitis and prescribed a regimen of antibiotics, but they did no good. Not long after, while walking to the garage at his house, he ran his hand across his chest and felt an unusual bump under the surface of his skin. “It felt more internal than external, and it really concerned me,” Noah recalled. It was the start of a nightmare. Within days, Noah was on the verge of death. He was diagnosed with a large tumor, caused by non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, that was pressing dangerously against his heart, lungs, and windpipe. Yet it also set in motion a dramatic chain of events that brought Noah to Tampa General Hospital—rushed across the state by ambulance—and a series of critical decisions by a world-class team of TGH physicians that ultimately saved his life. “When an airplane crashes, it happens after a sequence of mistakes,” said Dr. Eduardo Sotomayor, director of TGH’s newly established Cancer Institute and one of the physicians who played a vital role in the unfolding life-and-death situation. “But in Noah’s case, it was the opposite of an airplane crash. All of the right decisions were
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made at the right time for this kid. And the sequence of events that took place—at each step of the way—is why he is alive today.” Here is how that sequence in 2021 played out—with every hour, every move, counting in a race against the clock to keep the tumorous mass from stopping his heart. Monday, April 12: Sotomayor, a world-renowned oncologist and leading expert in lymphomas, arrived at TGH to direct the new Cancer Institute after leading cancer care and research at George Washington University Cancer Center in Washington, D.C., for five years. The first critical step in the sequence—unbeknownst to anyone—was in place. Friday, April 16: The next step involved the local hospital that Noah went to so the mysterious bump could be examined. A CT scan revealed the ominous mass. Fortunately, the physician on the case—Dr. Abraham Schwarzberg, now senior vice president of network development and chief of oncology at TGH—recognized immediately that Noah needed to be treated at an academic medical center offering the best possible advanced care. “Dr. Schwarzberg told me, ‘We can do the biopsy here, but this kid needs to be in a place that has one of the best intensive care units in the state,’” Sotomayor recalled. “This situation cannot be, ‘Handle it here.’ Luckily Noah was immediately transferred to TGH.” Noah was admitted at TGH that Friday night and seemed to be doing fine. But all that was about to drastically change. Saturday, April 17: Noah was taken to the operating room the next morning for a biopsy and the physician on call happened to be Dr. Eric Sommers, medical director of
ADVANCES
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