Support Scott Schwarze in his fight against cancer.

Scott Schwarze is fighting a battle with cancer.

Scott is a 2015 graduate of Jordan High School.

He joined the Army National Guard and served for 6 years.

He took over the family farm with his brother Todd and also works a full time job.

He has had to take a leave of absense from working during this fight.

Scott was diagnosed with stage 2 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (diffuse large B cell lymphoma) in February after noticing an enlarging mass in his neck. Scott started chemotherapy in March, with a planned 6 cycles of the Pola-R-CHP chemotherapy regimen. After 2 cycles, his tumor in his neck had basically resolved. At the end of May after completing 4 cycles of his treatment, he had another PET scan to see how things were looking. The primary tumor had shrunk in size, and a couple of smaller cancerous spots had resolved, but unfortunately the PET scan showed increased activity in the primary tumor in his neck. Scott also noticed the mass increasing in size again. They repeated a biopsy to make sure it was still the same cancer, which it was. This means that the cancer became resistant to the chemotherapy and a change of treatment is necessary.

Scott was referred to the University of Minnesota, where he had his first appointment with his new oncologist on Thursday. Since his cancer was worsening despite chemotherapy, they are recommending that he undergo CAR T-cell therapy. This is a newer type of cancer treatment that can be used for aggressive forms of diffuse large B cell lymphoma. For this treatment, they will draw his blood to collect his T cells (which are a type of white blood cell that protects the body from infections and disease) and send them to a lab where they will genetically modify them so that the T cells will recognize and bind to specific proteins that are on the cancer cells. After the T cells are modified, they will grow and multiply them in the lab, put them in an infusion bag, and infuse them back into his bloodstream. This process takes a bit of time- they estimate about 1 month from when the blood is drawn to when the infusion is given, so Scott may also need a bridging chemotherapy (a more intensive treatment than the one he was on) to prevent the cancer from growing too much before receiving the CAR T-cell therapy. After the infusion, he will be in the hospital for a minimum of 7 days, and after he is released, he needs to stay close to the U of M and needs a caregiver present with him at all times for 1 month following.

Scott has been handling this all so well and remains in good spirits, but he has a long road ahead. Send all of your thoughts, prayers, and hopes of a successful treatment so that he can put this all behind him.

Please share this link with family and friends and if possible please donate to help Scott cover his medical expenses as well as his living expenses; as you can imagine that this all adds up quickly.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers as Scott battles this cancer head on!

With love,

The Schwarze family