Event to benefit cancer patient

Witkowski’s best chance for survival is participation in clinical research studies in New Jersey.

STAFF REPORT

STRUTHERS — A benefit golf outing is planned Sunday for Andrzej Witkowski, who has traveled halfway around the world, from Poland to the United States, to battle a rare form of cancer.

He came to this country because innovative treatments are more readily available and affordable here, said benefit organizers.

Though he is more apt to get the treatments he needs in the U.S., moving here has left Witkowski and his family living in a foreign land where they don’t speak the language, cannot earn a living nor see much hope for a cure.

Witkowski was diagnosed in 2001 with metastatic mixoid round cell sarcoma, a cancer of the soft tissue. The cancer has been treated with many surgeries, including amputation of his right leg above the knee, radiation and chemotherapy. But, family members said, his cancer has progressed despite being on standard chemotherapy treatments.

Doctors believe his best chance for survival is participation in clinical research studies being conducted with the drug Yondelis, or Ecteinascidin-743, at several research hospitals across the country. The closest to here is the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Center, Newark, N.J.

Up until this point, much of the financial responsibility for the $300,000 worth of care he has received at Cleveland Clinic and St. Elizabeth Health Center has been covered by family, Medicaid, the American Cancer Society and State of Ohio residency grants.

But, because Witkowski is not a New Jersey resident, and will have to travel and stay on site for the research treatments, the financial need has suddenly become critical. The initial treatment alone is $5,000, to be paid in advance, said event organizer, Darek Chomczyk of Boardman, who is Witkoswki’s nephew.

The benefit golf is at 2:30 p.m. at Bedford Trails Public Golf Course, 713 Bedford Road, in Coitsville Township. The cost is $55 per golfer for 18 holes with cart, food, drinks. For more information, contact Chomczyk at (330) 503-1091.

Witkowski, born Aug. 30, 1962, on the family farm in Grajewo, Poland, near the country’s Russian border, has a number of relatives in the Struthers area. He and his wife, Bozena, live in a former rental unit in Struthers owned by his brother-in- law, Bruce Silvers of Columbiana. The Witkowskis are parishioners at St. Stanislaus Kostka. His older sister came to the U.S. in 1982 and later was followed by her two sons. He also has a number of American-born cousins and nephews.

alcorn@vindy.com