Jeff Pettit is a lung cancer survivor. The Moline man — who has never smoked in his life — is recovering from a one-week stay in intensive care this winter. He credits a chemo pill with getting his life back.
J.D. Pooley | Sentinel-Tribune
PERRYSBURG — Jeff Pettit was trying his best to run the Holiday Hustle 5K in Maumee.
He annually powers through the Thanksgiving weekend race, with daughter Ashley by his side.
But the race last year was different.
“By no means am I a runner, but I can finish without stopping,” said Pettit, who is 57 and owns Artistic Memorials in Perrysburg. “I probably had to stop at least 10 times because I’m out of breath. …. Something is not right.”
He decided to see his family doctor, who took an X-ray in the office.
Pettit was told he had a mass on his left lung.
Three days after Christmas, he had a bronchoscopy, which looks at the lungs and air passages.
“The doctor comes back, while I’m still on the table and says, ‘I hate to tell you this, Jeff, but you have lung cancer.’”
Pettit, who had “never, ever” smoked a day in his life, was stunned, but began treatment, which initially was radiation.
Things took a turn for the worse in February.
He started repeatedly seeing the doctor for fluid in his left lung. One time, 2 liters (picture a bottle of pop) were drained.
“It gets worse. I go back later, because I’m having trouble breathing and I have no appetite, they drain 3 liters. The doctor says it is a record for him,” Pettit said.
Now on oxygen, he was admitted to the intensive care unit at McLaren St. Luke’s Hospital in Maumee. He had fluid in his lungs and around his heart, and blood clots.
He was in ICU for almost a week, with needles inserted to drain fluid, then a port to continually get it out, Pettit said.
There was talk of transporting him to a more advanced hospital, Pettit said, but he wasn’t stable enough.
His wife Tena called his three siblings twice during the ordeal, thinking he wouldn’t make it through the night.
He stayed positive and believed in his recovery.
“It kicked my butt, but I kicked back,” Pettit said.
He recovered at home for a week before returning to Artistic Memorials for a few hours of work. It’s a three-person operation and the bills needed to be paid, Pettit said.
He worked half days for two weeks, then returned full time. He felt an obligation to his clients.
“I have all these families’ money, and they don’t have their product. This definitely could have gone the other way,” he said. “I like helping people. This is the final thing that they’re going to do for somebody.
“What we’re creating is forever.”
In late February, the doctor called with good news.
“They determined that this mass was a gene mutation. It didn’t come from second-hand smoke. It didn’t come from dust from here,” he said, gesturing around Artistic Memorials, where they build monuments.
“They did some testing and they matched the gene mutation perfectly with a chemo pill. So instead of radiation, they’ve got me on a chemo pill,” Pettit said.
Follow-up MRIs and CT scans show that the pill is working, he said.
“It’s reducing the growth on the lungs. I also have a little bit on the spine, hips and ribs,” he said. “I’m not out of the woods yet, but I have a good attitude towards it.”
Pettit has owned Artistic Memorials for 20 years and has been in the monument business for 39 years.
In addition to running the business, Pettit, who lives in Moline, is an avid motorcyclist. He was also a Lake Township trustee for eight years. He and Tena, who have been married 34 years, also have a son, Josh, in addition to daughter Ashley.
He is a local organizer for Wreaths Across America, which provides wreaths at Christmas to veterans’ graves in Lake Township Cemetery. He holds an annual car show, which had 200 cars this year, to raise money for it.
When he started with Wreaths six years ago, they did under 1,000. This year, they placed 1,800.
“It has grown considerably, but there’s about 2,300 veterans at Lake,” Pettit said.
His interest in helping veterans started 15 years ago when he was a guardian for an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.
“I thought that was the coolest thing,” Pettit said. “And after that, it just piqued my interest in the veterans. The wreath thing, there was never anything like that before. And it’s just a great way to honor them at Christmastime.”
Pettit said he concentrates on a good attitude and gratitude.
“I feel great, I really do,” he said. “And the doctors are impressed. … This is a success story.”
Pettit plans to be back at the Holiday Hustle this fall.
“That’s my goal, to be able to do that and not stop.”
