CLEVELAND, Ohio — In 2018, Bob was far from home when his life took an unexpected turn.
The 81-year-old Beachwood resident grew up in University Heights and raised his family in South Euclid, although he was at his winter home in Southeast Florida when he started to notice blood in his urine. Soon after, doctors discovered a tumor in his pancreas. What followed was a wave of uncertainty: an inconclusive biopsy, a painful bout of pancreatitis and, perhaps most difficult of all, no clear sense of what to do next.
This account is part of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer’s Health Care Stories series, which highlights reader-submitted experiences across Northeast Ohio — stories that, taken together, reflect the compassion, skill and heroism of the region’s health care community. To protect privacy, contributors are identified by pseudonyms…