Zachary Butterfield
Zach spends most days protecting and serving his community, now he needs your help.
In April of this year, while Zach was spending time in Tulsa with family, he woke up in the middle of the night with extreme pain in his right chest and arm. So much so that I drove him 2 hours all the way back to Mercy Rogers emergency room. They did some tests and found a substantial amount of fluid in Zach’s lung and high amounts of certain proteins/Vitamin D. Zach was sent to Highland’s Oncology for further testing on the abnormal cells they found from CT and PT scans. The abnormality shown on the scans was a 7cm mass between his right lung and his heart along with some smaller anomalies. A biopsy was scheduled and performed, as well as draining his right lung. (Which would later have to be performed again, as they did not get large enough specimens) After further testing of the biopsy, Zach was diagnosed with Large B-Cell Lymphoma. Before starting treatment, Zach went through a surgery to have a chemotherapy port put in the left side of his chest. While doing this procedure, they also drained more fluid off his right lung. Zach’s chemotherapy treatment consisted of 6 rounds of week-long chemotherapy that lasted from May until the end of October. During these treatments, Zach was too weak to stand, let alone work. The first week of every treatment was the roughest. The white blood cell shot they gave him after his treatments, made his body ache, which caused pain and lack of sleep. The chemotherapy itself caused nausea, hair loss and loss of appetite. After the first treatment, we found a blood clot in his neck and arm. He was issued blood thinners, which he has continued to take as the blood clot is still there (side effect of the lymphoma). Half way through chemotherapy (3 treatments down), Zach had his midway round of scans. PT scan, Ultrasound, CT scan and Xray. Great news, the masses had shrunk from 7cm down to 3cm! Blood clot was still there, along with some of the smaller masses, but the scans showed no lighting, which was a great sign. Zach still had pain in his chest, and some fluid buildup, but those were deemed as side effects of treatment. Zach was getting used to the loss of hair and shortness of breath, and painful chemo weeks. We all stayed hopeful though, as the recent scans were positive in our favor.
During this time of need, so many people showed us how much Zach means to them. Rogers PD, Rogers FOP, my work, our friends, and some family, have gone above and beyond for our family.
Fast Forward to the last weeks of treatment and he got the clear from Dr to go back to work, light duty. He loved this news as he had run out of vacation/sick/fmla. He loves his work family, and to see everyone on a regular basis again was a reason to hope again.