Oswego Couple Asking for Help

Photo: Angie Amwoza supports her partner John Cronsell.

Submitted by Angie Amwoza

John Cronsell is a 45 year old construction worker. His favorite hobbies are camping with his family and dog Odie, and auto mechanics.

John had a hoarse voice last summer but we thought nothing of it. He is a big guy who talks loud. He has lost his voice every once in awhile for the last 22 years we have been together. when fall came and his voice still wasn’t improving we finally went to the doctor. They did blood work, a throat ultrasound, and chest x-rays. They didn’t find anything alarming but gave us a referral for an ear-nose-throat doctor. The day before his appointment John had a coughing fit and ended up choking on mucus in his throat. I called an ambulance and I had to blow in his mouth to try and clear the mucus. John was taken to Copley where he was intubated (tube down throat & sedated to sleep) for 5 days. This was the most awful thing I have ever witnessed.

We followed up with an E.N.T. The doctor said his left vocal cord wasn’t moving on that there was a mass next to it. We made an appointment for 2 weeks to do a biopsy.

One day before that appointment John choked again and I once again call an ambulance. This is when our lives changed... Paramedics could not unlock John’s jaw. They got him to the hospital and secured his airway. But, then he went into cardiac arrest from the struggle of breathing. They shocked him back quickly and got him stabilized. He was intubated and sedated for the night. The next day he had a biopsy and tracheotomy done. When he got back to the ICU they stopped the sedation meds but John would not wake up. They tried many things to stimulate him, but nothing happened. He got ECGs and an MRI of the brain. Both showed slow brain activity. John suffered anoxic brain injury from low levels of oxygen. The doctor told me John might never wake up and I would have to make decisions. How overwhelming! 3 or 4 days later John started responding to simulation with a toe wiggle, or an eye blink. His biopsy results were in. John has cancer of the voice box.

We were at Copley for about three and a half weeks before we were moved to Kendrid in Sycamore. After about 3 weeks at Kindred we went back to Copley due to an abscessing and infection from the trach. From there we transferred to U.I.C. John was supposed to get surgery to remove the mass, but after being opened up the Dr decided not to. It was to Big. Instead the doctor ordered 7 weeks of chemo and radiation to shrink / kill it. John did have surgery that day. The surgeon deemed the skin/tissue on his neck bad from abscessing & infection, so he removed it and stretched skin over from the left chest area and stitched and stapled it in place. Yuck, that was horrifying. We were at U.I.C for about 5 weeks.

I got to bring John home April 11th. I care for him along with our 9 year old son and 19 year old daughter. John still has a tracheotomy and a stomach feeding tube. (No food since Jan 21st) He walks very short distances with a walker. He can’t read our see fast moving objects. I can not leave my house unless a friend or family member is over to sit with John.

May 9th John finished his third week of chemo and radiation and all is well so far. John starts therapy next week for 2 hours a day two times a week. I Drive him to UIC in Chicago Monday through Friday for radiation and chemo and any other appointment he may have.

I drive a 16-year-old truck that I try to take very good care of as this is John’s life-saving ride. I have put over 8,000 miles on my truck since January. There is so much love and care involved with me doing this for John it is truly a labor of love! I know these things happen and it’s very hard and sad, but I do have hope I know this will be a long road with the brain injury and the throat. John is very scared and cries a lot and I just try to keep all of our lives together and keep his spirits up. I have only been able to work a couple weekends a month due to my very busy schedule caring for John. If you have any questions or comments for me please call me at 331-684-5343.

A fundraiser for John will also be held June 13. Click here for more details.