Finally, Cade saw a neuro ophthalmologist who diagnosed Cade with paraneoplastic neurological syndrome, an immune-mediated effect of cancer where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks healthy nerve tissues while trying to fight cancerous cells.
Doctors discovered the cancer in his chest. For all that Cade has and continues to battle, the treatment of the mediastinal seminoma was straightforward, albeit a tolling physical procedure in its own right. Cade had a sternotomy to remove the tumor, and now at 22 years old, is cancer free.
But the cancer led to PNS that ultimately evolved into autoimmune encephalitis, where the body’s immune response attacks brain cells. Cade’s body was failing him because it was attacking itself to get rid of the cancer.
The cruel combination of disorders is so rare that Cade is essentially a case study.
“There is no written medical treatment plan,” said Shellie Tackett, Cade’s father. “Normally you'll have a patient or several patients that have certain things, and there's a drawn-out process of, ‘OK, this is how we treat this.’ Cade is not that person. It's a brand-new treatment plan. Trial and error. He's writing his own story.”
Cade is now telling his own story as well. Thanks to blood donations, Cade is regaining some of his motor skills. He can talk and walk again, but he still does not have his hearing back.
“The biggest thing for me is – excuse my vulgarity – when life deals you a shit hand, you can either sit, sulk and dwell on the fact you were on the receiving end of the unfair hand, or you can get up and play that shitty hand to the fullest,” said Cade, who takes questions through a translator on his phone. “You don’t let it get you down or define you. Cancer doesn’t define me. I define me.”
Cade’s incredible perspective is matched only by the magnitude of generous donors it’s taken to get him on the road to recovery. Cade receives intravenous immunoglobulin infusions, a concentrated dose of antibodies extracted from the plasma of healthy donors. In Cade’s case, the good antibodies he receives counteract the bad antibodies and calm his immune system. The treatments are reducing the inflammation of his brain, and slowly but surely returning some of his functions.
But one treatment alone is derived from thousands of donors, and Cade receives consistent infusions. It’s quite literally taken tens of thousands of donors to get Cade to this point.
“I encourage everyone to donate because if people don't donate, Cade can't get the help and medication that he needs,” Jacqueline said.
Shellie was a consistent blood donor prior to Cade’s diagnosis. He began giving blood at 18 years old because he was healthy and able to, and he felt like it was a small deed that had a profound impact on others. Cade’s journey has certainly confirmed his belief.
“I don’t know that we would see the progress that we have without blood donors,” said Shellie, who donates at every blood drive his company, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, hosts with Kentucky Blood Center. “To the outside world, it doesn’t look like he’s made progress, but for us living it every single day, especially him, if I had to quantify it, it would be a 90% improvement.”
Cade was exposed to blood donation prior to his battle. KBC hosted blood drives at his high school, and Cade said he gave without much thought of who was at the other end of his donation.
But Cade knew his hour spent at the blood drive was a gift for someone, and that knowledge was enough to make time to donate. It’s that same decision by others – by thousands of donors he’ll never meet – that is giving Cade his life back.
“I don't think a lot of what I’ve experienced is something that someone can think about or process until you live it,” he said. “I’ve had my voice taken from me, my ears taken from me, and not at any fault of my own. We live in a world where there’s so much sound and so much to see, and not being able to hear what’s going on or for a short period of time and not being able to speak about what's going on to those around me was a very life-altering experience. The has been so much uncertainty wrapped up around this, but I can confidently say that without IVIG and without blood donations, I would not be able to have the conversation I'm having with you now.”
