OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — For the third consecutive year 3 News Now's Zach Williamson will serve as the emcee for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Omaha. KMTV is also a proud sponsor of the annual event. It's a huge fundraiser in the fall raising money to support patients and their families fighting blood cancer and for lifesaving research.
Two people who can speak to that lifesaving research – a patient and his oncologist – sat down with Zach to share their story.
- Career firefighter Nick Howe was diagnosed with diffused large B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2016.
- He went into remission in November of 2017 after participating in CAT-T cell therapy, which was a clinical trial at the time.
- The race wasn't over, as the treatment was so powerful it left him susceptible to more health complications. It led to two separate heart failures, the last leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
- Now, he looks back on this long race – one many never thought he would finish – grateful for his team and the driver he has become.
- Howe is hosting his inaugural fundraiser for Light the Night Omaha called Cars & Cures to continue to raise money for lifesaving research and to support those going through battles like he did. CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE DETAILS.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Before we started our interview — the guys had to get suited up in their Talladega Nights uniforms.
"Shake and bake," they said in unison as we were getting underway.
Whether it's driving them or working on them, “Car in general in my life has played such a huge role,” Cancer Survivor Nick Howe said.
But there was a new car – one Howe never imagined driving – that would be the most important in his life.
“June of 2016 I was diagnosed with diffused large B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma," Howe said.
It is one of the most aggressive forms of blood cancer, and the diagnosis came eightyears after losing his dad to the same form of blood cancer. He tried several treatments over the course of the next year-and-a-half, only seeing partial remission for a short time.
“It was pretty dark. Nothing was working.”
Howe was at a fork in the road. Continue to try traditional treatments or a clinical trial of what’s called CAR-T cell treatment.
“We knew we had a fast car but we had to learn how to not crash it,” Nebraska Medicine Medical Director for Gene & Cellular Therapy, and Howe’s oncologist, Dr. Matt Lunning said about the very new treatment.
“If this was my last chance, I wanted to make it very important,” Howe explained. “Because I knew even if I didn’t survive the team would have learned something from my case.”
Dr. Lunning added, “It's only through clinical trials, and brave people like Nick here, that we figured out how to fine tune these CAR-T cells so that not only the patients stay on the racetrack, but they are able to finish the race.”
They started the clinical trial in November of 2017. A few weeks later he went into remission.
“It was just such a huge win. Not only for the team and myself, but also for my mom who just started treatment for pancreatic cancer," Howe said.
He has been cancer-free since – but the race wasn’t over.
“It’s a long race and there’s things that can happen after CAR-T cell because of just how powerful it is,” Dr. Lunning explained.
More than three years later the career firefighter contracted rhinovirus. Because of how immunocompromised the CAR-T cell treatment had left him it was much worse than a common cold.
He needed a new heart. After several meetings due to cancer survivors not typically being able to receive organ transplants, he was finally approved.
“It went well, until it didn’t. That same virus attacked my new heart just three months later.”
Which led to a spinal stroke in his sleep. Leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
"So everything I knew in the world is over,” Howe remembered feeling.
Now, he looks back on this long race – one many never thought he would finish – grateful for his team and the driver he has become.
"We just celebrated Julia’s (Howe’s Daughter) seventh birthday, and I have twin four-year-old boys. I don’t feel incapable anymore – I feel very capable. That’s a lot to do with everyone that surrounds me.”
You can help people going through battles with blood cancer this weekend.
Howe is hosting his first fundraiser for Light the Night Omaha called Cars & Cures. It's a massive car show happening this Sunday (June 8) at Victory Lane Omaha, located at 204th and Center. The event starts at 5 p.m. and runs until 9 p.m.
It will be full of cars you’ve most likely never seen! All the proceeds will go to Light the Night. Click here for more details and to get a sneak peek.
