In Mid-January Tim started to develop some abdominal pain that would not go away. He decided on Jan 17th to go to the doctor to have it checked out. After a CT scan he was directed to the emergency room in Mason City for infection in his abdomen. They believed it was his Gallbladder. After more tests and blood work they decided, they were going to take the gallbladder out and scheduled surgery and admitted him to the Hospital. In preparation for surgery, they did an EKG and discovered an irregular heartbeat, so surgery was postponed. As they tried to find the cause of the irregular heartbeat, he underwent numerous tests, scans, and blood work. Finally, one of the cardiologists ordered an Echocardiogram. This revealed a large mass in the right atrium of his Heart. After the finding of the mass it led to emergency open heart surgery to have the mass removed and a Pacemaker implanted.

Once the mass was removed it was sent to pathology for further testing at which point it came back and he was told he has cancer again, this time a much rarer form--Tim was diagnosed with spindle cell Cardiac Synovial Sarcoma and referred to Mayo Clinic for Treatment.

After healing from the surgery and waiting for the referral to go through they met with the team at Mayo. They spoke to Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgery among others to learn the plan and course of treatments ahead. This led to more tests and scans than he could ever count.

In late MarchTim started an intense chemotherapy regiment that consisted of 3 days of treatments every 3 weeks. The first 2 cycles would be a Dual treatment approach then continue with a high dose of the one drug moving forward. Treatments lasted 10-12 hours each day with Numerous scans and retesting between each cycle.

After 4 sessions it was decided he needed to do 6 total sessions or 18 treatments at which point they would then attempt a high-risk surgery to remove the remaining part of the tumor and reconstruct his heart. This Surgery is scheduled for Aug 26th. Once complete they will then determine the next course of treatment which could range from more Chemotherapy, Radiation and possibly a heart transplant down the road.