{"id":24018,"date":"2019-05-14T10:45:37","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T16:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=24018"},"modified":"2025-03-07T09:03:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T16:03:02","slug":"today-wasnt-about-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/today-wasnt-about-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Today wasn’t about cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
\"This
Newlyweds Bob Bryant and Connie Kassel are looking forward to a honeymoon Alaskan cruise. Photo by UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Bob Bryant mentioned the idea of Hawaiian day to Jan Fritz, director of cancer services at UCHealth Jan Bishop Cancer Center<\/a>, he thought one or two of the nurses might put on a Hawaiian shirt.<\/p>\n

Instead, when he arrived for treatment on April 11, Bryant was greeted with leis and shell necklaces, Hawaiian decorations in his treatment area, a cake and a hula dancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was way over the top from what I could have ever imagined,\u201d said Bryant. \u201cJust because we\u2019re sick doesn\u2019t mean we can\u2019t all be upbeat and celebrate things.\u201d<\/p>\n

And celebrate they did, especially since Bryant and his wife, Connie Kassel, were married just the day before.<\/p>\n

A love story unfolds<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Bob
Bob Bryant and Connie Kassel share a love of the outdoors. Photo courtesy Connie Kassel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bryant and Kassel met on the internet some \u201c14-ish years\u201d ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI liked how active he is in life,\u201d said Kassel. \u201cRiding horses and ATVs, working on the ranch, all the active stuff you can do around here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has a kind heart and is so generous,\u201d said Bryant. \u201cAnd she\u2019s pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their first date was over Mexican food at lunchtime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess you could say the rest is history,\u201d said Kassel, a distinct twinkle in her eye.<\/p>\n

An adventurous soul<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cFrom the time I was 16, I knew I wasn\u2019t supposed to live in the city,\u201d said Bryant. \u201cI literally hitchhiked my way into Steamboat Springs on July 7, 1974 from Columbus, Ohio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryant, 66, is a retired heavy diesel mechanic. He learned the skills as he couldn\u2019t afford to have others work on his machinery, and he enjoyed it, particularly working on International trucks.<\/p>\n

He considers himself \u201chighly adventurous,\u201d with some of his best adventures including a 50-mile pack trip from Dumont Lake to the Slavonia trailhead outside of Steamboat Springs, and a drive to Alaska with ATVs in tow on a hunt for moose, black bear and wolf.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat hunt didn\u2019t pan out like I\u2019d hoped,\u201d said Bryant. \u201cI think we see more wildlife in Steamboat Springs than you do in Alaska.\u201d<\/p>\n

A different type of adventure<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Early in 2018, Bryant saw his primary care physician for what Bryant called the \u201cwelcome to Medicare\u201d physical.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring that appointment, I told him I hadn\u2019t seen a picture of my lungs in a decade,\u201d said Bryant. \u201cHe said, \u2018Let\u2019s get a picture.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Connie
Connie Kassel and Bob Bryant ride four-wheelers in the Zirkel Wilderness. Photo courtesy Connie Kassel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That picture led to Bryant being diagnosed with stage 3 non-small cell lung cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a smoker, but I knew there were things in my past that could have been contributing factors,\u201d said Bryant.<\/p>\n

As part of an adventure tour in Mexico in 1988, Bryant went in a bat cave. There\u2019s a possibility he may have contracted histoplasmosis<\/a>, an infection caused by breathing in fungal spores often found in bird and bat droppings.<\/p>\n

A year after that, Bryant worked in an underground coal mine for 12 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll never know for sure, but it does make you wonder if there\u2019s any connection,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Next steps<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It took about a month for Bryant to get the necessary ducks in a row for his treatment. In June 2018, under the care of Dr. Allen Cohn<\/a>, he began chemotherapy at UCHealth Jan Bishop Cancer Center<\/a> and radiation in Edwards, Colo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had chemo on Mondays in Steamboat Springs, then Connie would take me home and I\u2019d ride my motorcycle down to Edwards for radiation during the middle of the week, then I\u2019d ride the bike back home on Fridays,\u201d said Bryant. \u201cI was strong and healthy enough to do that for six weeks, the entire duration of that course of treatment. It meant a lot to be able to do that, to be able to continue some of the fun things in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kassel played an integral role in Bryant\u2019s care.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is a tremendous support system for him,\u201d said Shannon Fonger<\/a>, a nurse practitioner at UCHealth Jan Bishop Cancer Center. \u201cIt can be difficult during appointments for a patient to take in all the information, but Connie did a wonderful job learning and understanding the various aspects of Bob\u2019s care.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"In
Connie Kassel and Bob Bryant reenact the iconic “I’m Flying!” scene from the movie Titanic while visiting Hawaii. Photo courtesy Connie Kassel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the end of July 2018, Bryant\u2019s chemotherapy and radiation treatments finished within a day of each other. He took a three week break, then began 12 sessions of immunotherapy<\/a> over the course of 24 weeks.<\/p>\n

At the end of that treatment, unfortunately, a PET scan<\/a> showed that not only had the treatment not worked, it had made things worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cancer mutated and metastasized, but it\u2019s stayed in my lungs so far,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you can\u2019t breathe, you can\u2019t do anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryant went back to chemotherapy treatments every three weeks.<\/p>\n

Celebrating the person<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It was during one of those treatments where the idea of Hawaiian day came about.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs usual, Jan and her team took it to the next level,\u201d said Kassel. \u201cThey are our heroes. They are great. They\u2019re always upbeat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initially it was a simple Hawaiian day. Then Fritz learned that Bryant and Kassel were set to wed the day before his next treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat took our plans up a notch \u2013 we ordered a cake and planned lunch and decorations. Someone even knew of a woman Steamboat Springs who performed hula dances. She was on board, too,\u201d said Fritz.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did everything a little backwards with the wedding,\u201d joked Kassel. \u201cHoneymoon planning, marriage certificate, rings, then the ceremony. But it worked for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryant had been planning an Alaskan cruise with Kassel when they began talking about getting married.<\/p>\n

\u201cI may have had the thought of it being a honeymoon cruise,\u201d said Bryant.<\/p>\n

With the trip set (and the honeymoon aspect still a secret), Bryant and Kassel talked over a weekend about getting married. The next Tuesday, March 19, they went to the Routt County Courthouse for their marriage certificate.<\/p>\n

On April 10, 2019, they were married at Steamboat Christian Center.<\/p>\n

The Hawaiian celebration the next day during Bryant\u2019s treatment was icing on the cake.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe relationships we\u2019re able to build with our patients are so special,\u201d said Fritz. \u201cYes, we care for Bob the patient, but today, we cared for Bob the person. Today wasn\u2019t about cancer. Today was about celebrating the life Bob and Connie have together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"This
Bob Bryant’s care team at UCHealth Jan Bishop Cancer Center surprised him with a Hawaiian luau. Photo by UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0\u2018A godsend in my backyard\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Bryant continues to live with lung cancer, but has been responding positively to recent treatments.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had to go to Denver for Bob\u2019s treatment, it would have been really stressful,\u201d said Kassel. \u201cWe can\u2019t say enough about the care we\u2019ve both received.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, it\u2019s been a godsend being able to have treatment essentially in my backyard,\u201d Bryant said of the cancer center in Steamboat. \u201cIf I had to go further away from home for my care, it would have made things exponentially worse; this has made it exponentially better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Bob Bryant mentioned the idea of Hawaiian day to Jan Fritz, director of cancer services at UCHealth Jan Bishop Cancer Center, he thought one or two of the nurses might put on a Hawaiian shirt. Instead, when he arrived for treatment on April 11, Bryant was greeted with leis and shell necklaces, Hawaiian decorations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2146,"featured_media":24021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[28,3508,6836,1727],"class_list":["post-24018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-cancer-care-oncology","tag-cancer-care-patient-stories","tag-lung-and-thoracic-cancer","tag-lung-cancer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nToday wasn't about cancer - 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