Matthew Andrews is an advocate. Though he may not have realized it at the time, being an elementary school principal meant routinely speaking up for the good of his students, staff and the school in times of need. He had their back.
And when Andrews began experiencing late-term radiation treatment side effects as he battled back from brain cancer surgery, a tenacious medical team from the Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine at Carle BroMenn Medical Center had his back when he needed it most.
The team rallied to advocate for Andrews’s continued access to hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) treatments -- a modality that showed promising signs of helping him regain some of the cognitive function and motor skills that had so suddenly begun to deteriorate.
He was improving until he wasn't
Matt returned to his position as principal of Heyworth Elementary School in the fall of 2022, almost one year after he was diagnosed with medulloblastoma -- an aggressive brain tumor that occurs predominantly in children. Lingering balance issues that made it challenging to walk kept him in a wheelchair as he began putting the pieces of his life before cancer back together again.
Then, in November, “It was like a lightbulb went out,” Sarah Andrews, Matt’s wife, remembers. “Matt began to struggle with his memory. His boss noticed too. We chalked it up to the effects of chemotherapy, but it kept getting worse.”
A friend in need is a friend indeed
As luck would have it, Matt’s mother, Jan Andrews, has known Allan File, MD, Hyperbaric Medicine, Wound Healing Center at Carle Foundation Hospital, since they were young and he had been following his case from afar.
“The fact that Matt clearly was on the right track and then started going the wrong direction left me wondering, what’s up?” Dr. File recalls. “I’ve been doing hyperbaric oxygen for about 20 years, and I know that radiation can do a lot of weird things – some of which improve with HBOT. Then things clicked -- it often takes time, sometimes years, for the side effects of radiation treatments to manifest themselves, so why can’t the radiation Matt had received be connected with the changes he is experiencing?”
Jan credits Dr. File with getting everything rolling. “He told me his HBOT patients tell him they are remembering things and he thought Matt may benefit from HBOT. He suggested I mention HBOT as a possible therapy option.” At the same time, Dr. File reached out to Debbie Wietfeldt, DNP, Nurse Practitioner at the Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine at Carle BroMenn Medical Center with his theory.
Teamwork makes the dream work
At Dr. File’s suggestion, Wietfeldt pulled together any articles she could find to help build a strong case for the use of HBOT for Matt. The pair also sought out the buy-in and cooperation of the medical team that performed Matt’s radiation treatments. “There needed to be very specific things in the referring physician’s note if this treatment was going to be approved,” Wietfeldt explains.
Wietfeldt and her team successfully secured approval for 20, up to a total of 40, HBOT visits for Matt. The team began seeing positive changes quickly. But when Wietfeldt sought approval for the remaining 20 visits, Matt’s insurance company denied it.
“We don’t even start to see new vascularization to the damaged tissue (angiogenesis) until somewhere between treatment 20 and 30. He already went from a flat affect at first presentation to beginning to be conversational again. We were not going to give up.
“With any expensive treatment, you will have to deal with insurance and make a strong case. My progress notes looked a lot more like a research paper than they did like a simple medical note just because I felt the need to document whatever evidence I did have in the literature to support any decisions we were making because we were doing something that isn’t done very frequently,” Weitfeldt recalls.
Ultimately, the team turned to the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI) for help and submitted more than 100 pages of notes to back up their case. Within 24 hours the IDOI approved not only the 20 remaining visits but an additional 20, for a grand total of 60 visits for Matt. “A neuro-oncologist reviewed our note. We couldn’t have asked for anyone better,” Wietfeldt confides.
“The IDOI painted a broader picture and made the argument that the Andrews’s had essentially maximized every other option that would have been more standard, so this was what they considered to be his best option as an adjunctive therapy -- HBOT in conjunction with occupational, physical and speech therapy; continued imaging; and regular evaluations by neurology and his neuro-ophthalmologist.”
After the 40th visit, Matt’s insurance company again denied the remaining visits, but the IDOI came through again and quickly turned it around. Matt finished his 60th visit late last year.
Slow and steady wins the race
“My goals are to walk and get back to work…to put this behind me,” Matt says. “I was raised never to quit, never to back down. With HBOT it is like the light switched on. My cognition is better, retention is good, and it just feels better than before.”
“We understand it’s going to be a long journey and just keep working,” Sarah says. “Debbie and all of the wonderful people that she works with were the best advocates I’ve seen in my entire life to fight for Matt. As his brain continues to heal, he’ll be able to get much better and live a life he is happy to live for himself and our family.”
For Wietfeldt and her team, it’s all part of the patient-centered care that Carle Health is committed to offering patients.
“It was very easy to advocate for Matt in this situation because we were seeing the evidence -- we were seeing him every day, Wietfeldt shares. “We have a lot of very determined people and we were all so passionate about Matt and his case. That’s what I love about my job, we truly see the improvement with this treatment and will continue to advocate for it passionately for patients who are good candidates.”
Through the commitment and resolve of Matt’s family, friends and medical team, he is reclaiming parts of his life that were slipping away. With his determination and advocacy team he has a good chance of continuing to improve.
And when Andrews began experiencing late-term radiation treatment side effects as he battled back from brain cancer surgery, a tenacious medical team from the Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine at Carle BroMenn Medical Center had his back when he needed it most.
The team rallied to advocate for Andrews’s continued access to hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) treatments -- a modality that showed promising signs of helping him regain some of the cognitive function and motor skills that had so suddenly begun to deteriorate.
He was improving until he wasn't
Matt returned to his position as principal of Heyworth Elementary School in the fall of 2022, almost one year after he was diagnosed with medulloblastoma -- an aggressive brain tumor that occurs predominantly in children. Lingering balance issues that made it challenging to walk kept him in a wheelchair as he began putting the pieces of his life before cancer back together again.
Then, in November, “It was like a lightbulb went out,” Sarah Andrews, Matt’s wife, remembers. “Matt began to struggle with his memory. His boss noticed too. We chalked it up to the effects of chemotherapy, but it kept getting worse.”
A friend in need is a friend indeed
As luck would have it, Matt’s mother, Jan Andrews, has known Allan File, MD, Hyperbaric Medicine, Wound Healing Center at Carle Foundation Hospital, since they were young and he had been following his case from afar.
“The fact that Matt clearly was on the right track and then started going the wrong direction left me wondering, what’s up?” Dr. File recalls. “I’ve been doing hyperbaric oxygen for about 20 years, and I know that radiation can do a lot of weird things – some of which improve with HBOT. Then things clicked -- it often takes time, sometimes years, for the side effects of radiation treatments to manifest themselves, so why can’t the radiation Matt had received be connected with the changes he is experiencing?”
Jan credits Dr. File with getting everything rolling. “He told me his HBOT patients tell him they are remembering things and he thought Matt may benefit from HBOT. He suggested I mention HBOT as a possible therapy option.” At the same time, Dr. File reached out to Debbie Wietfeldt, DNP, Nurse Practitioner at the Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine at Carle BroMenn Medical Center with his theory.
Teamwork makes the dream work
At Dr. File’s suggestion, Wietfeldt pulled together any articles she could find to help build a strong case for the use of HBOT for Matt. The pair also sought out the buy-in and cooperation of the medical team that performed Matt’s radiation treatments. “There needed to be very specific things in the referring physician’s note if this treatment was going to be approved,” Wietfeldt explains.
Wietfeldt and her team successfully secured approval for 20, up to a total of 40, HBOT visits for Matt. The team began seeing positive changes quickly. But when Wietfeldt sought approval for the remaining 20 visits, Matt’s insurance company denied it.
“We don’t even start to see new vascularization to the damaged tissue (angiogenesis) until somewhere between treatment 20 and 30. He already went from a flat affect at first presentation to beginning to be conversational again. We were not going to give up.
“With any expensive treatment, you will have to deal with insurance and make a strong case. My progress notes looked a lot more like a research paper than they did like a simple medical note just because I felt the need to document whatever evidence I did have in the literature to support any decisions we were making because we were doing something that isn’t done very frequently,” Weitfeldt recalls.
Ultimately, the team turned to the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI) for help and submitted more than 100 pages of notes to back up their case. Within 24 hours the IDOI approved not only the 20 remaining visits but an additional 20, for a grand total of 60 visits for Matt. “A neuro-oncologist reviewed our note. We couldn’t have asked for anyone better,” Wietfeldt confides.
“The IDOI painted a broader picture and made the argument that the Andrews’s had essentially maximized every other option that would have been more standard, so this was what they considered to be his best option as an adjunctive therapy -- HBOT in conjunction with occupational, physical and speech therapy; continued imaging; and regular evaluations by neurology and his neuro-ophthalmologist.”
After the 40th visit, Matt’s insurance company again denied the remaining visits, but the IDOI came through again and quickly turned it around. Matt finished his 60th visit late last year.
Slow and steady wins the race
“My goals are to walk and get back to work…to put this behind me,” Matt says. “I was raised never to quit, never to back down. With HBOT it is like the light switched on. My cognition is better, retention is good, and it just feels better than before.”
“We understand it’s going to be a long journey and just keep working,” Sarah says. “Debbie and all of the wonderful people that she works with were the best advocates I’ve seen in my entire life to fight for Matt. As his brain continues to heal, he’ll be able to get much better and live a life he is happy to live for himself and our family.”
For Wietfeldt and her team, it’s all part of the patient-centered care that Carle Health is committed to offering patients.
“It was very easy to advocate for Matt in this situation because we were seeing the evidence -- we were seeing him every day, Wietfeldt shares. “We have a lot of very determined people and we were all so passionate about Matt and his case. That’s what I love about my job, we truly see the improvement with this treatment and will continue to advocate for it passionately for patients who are good candidates.”
Through the commitment and resolve of Matt’s family, friends and medical team, he is reclaiming parts of his life that were slipping away. With his determination and advocacy team he has a good chance of continuing to improve.
Categories: Redefining Healthcare
Tags: Brain Cancer, Carle BroMenn Medical Center, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy