MISSOULA – We have the story of a late University of Montana professor who died from colon cancer this last August. MTN's Kathryn Roley spoke with his wife to share their journey.
"My husband was diagnosed with colon cancer in March, actually March 10th of 2016. He at the time was given anywhere from 10 months to two years to live,” said Caryn Schwarze.
Steve Schwarz, a father, husband, and communications professor at the University of Montana had symptoms for a couple years before he was diagnosed. Once Steve received his diagnosis, his wife Caryn said he came up with his own treatment plans.
"He was amazing and cobbled together clinical trials, we traveled to Spokane for a clinical trial in 2017 and he created his own clinical trial that he found an oncologist in Seattle to administer in 2020 and 2021,” Caryn said.
Currently, there is no cure for colon cancer once it progresses to late stage. Clinical trials with chemo and radiation as well as other therapies could give someone more years to live.
“He outlived his prognosis which was incredible, and we are so grateful for that, but the cancer mutated sometime last winter and he just never was able to get control of it again he tried immunotherapy, he tried returning to previous chemotherapies that were effective but in April he moved into hospice and in August he passed away,” Caryn told MTN News.
While around 100,000 people survive colon cancer each year, 55,000 don’t survive — and that’s mostly due to catching growths in the late stages of cancer. For Steve, he lived 4 1/2 years after his initial diagnosis.
“I never really believed that this would kill him, and I just thought gosh 5% or something survive Stage 4 colon cancer diagnosis, so why not Steve?” Caryn said. “And so I wasn’t surprised when one year because two and then three and four and five.”
“When the cancer came back last winter with such a vengeance, and he was in a tremendous amount of pain is when it became really real and it was awful,” Caryn continued. “It’s not the kind of thing that anyone deserves to live through or to watch.”
Because colon cancer is being diagnosed at a younger age, doctors recommend getting a colonoscopy at 45, or earlier if you have symptoms. This is the best way to prevent or catch colon cancer before it spreads.
