A Mesothelioma Story of Hope: Walking Out on Her Own Two Feet
When my mother Lawanda Ultan was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma at 93, we were gently and reasonably told that surgery might not be an option. She was 93. The odds were what they were.
Dr. Jeffrey Velotta at Kaiser Permanente looked at her scans. Then he looked at Lawanda. And he said: That’s not the plan.
What followed was one of the most harrowing and ultimately transcendent experiences of our family’s life. Lawanda nearly died more than once. We gathered at her bedside to say goodbye. But that wasn’t the end of her story.
From a Grim Prognosis to a Remarkable Recovery
She was intubated, transferred to a respiratory rehabilitation facility in Kentfield and unable to breathe on her own. The staff, kind and honest, told us to begin thinking about permanent care.
Dr. Velotta said: That’s not the plan. Lawanda underwent a pleurectomy for mesothelioma with Dr. Velotta. [A pleurectomy removes the pleura, which is the thin membrane around the lungs where pleural mesothelioma tumors develop.]
A week later, she breathed on her own. The staff was mystified. Dr. Velotta was not. And then 93-year-old, Oklahoma-born, Berkeley-educated, lifelong painter and folk musician and lover of a good glass of white wine Lawanda walked out of that facility on her own two feet.
Our Message to Mesothelioma Patients and Families
Lawanda is now approaching her 94th birthday. Every Wednesday she goes to hear live music with her boyfriend Dale and her friends. She paints. She hosts dinners. She loves her family fiercely and without reservation.
This is what Kaiser Permanente made possible. Not just the surgery, the belief. The belief that every patient is an individual, that age is a number and not a verdict, that the right doctor asking the right questions can rewrite what everyone else assumed was the ending.
If you are a patient or a family weighing your options, weighing the odds, being told what isn’t possible, we are here to tell you: Find your Dr. Velotta. Ours happened to be at Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center. We will be grateful for the rest of our lives.
