{"id":3492,"date":"2018-04-09T13:42:31","date_gmt":"2018-04-09T18:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/?p=3492"},"modified":"2022-04-22T08:44:22","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T13:44:22","slug":"willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Throat cancer survivor: “God led me here”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Willie Heindricks had a persistent sore throat. He was losing weight and having difficulty swallowing and over-the-counter medication didn\u2019t seem to help. The Jerseyville resident didn\u2019t think too much about it until he started coughing up small amounts of blood.<\/p>\n

He scheduled an appointment with ear, nose and throat specialist Dr. Keith Bonacquisti of OSF HealthCare Medical Group<\/a>. Dr. Bonacquisti performed a fiber optic exam followed by a biopsy.<\/p>\n

Willie had throat cancer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, hearing those words scared me to death, but I turned it over to God and asked for a lot of prayer,\u201d Willie said. \u201cDr. Bonacquisti warned me that while not a death sentence, it was going to be a battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

He met with the specialists at OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony\u2019s Cancer Center of Excellence<\/a>, radiation oncologist, Dr. James Piephoff<\/a>, and medical oncologist and hematologist, Dr. Manpreet Sandhu<\/a>. The team developed a personalized treatment plan to battle the cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctors, nurses, technicians, all the staff, were confident and compassionate. They were just wonderful,\u201d Willie said. \u201cGod led me here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willie had 32 radiation treatments and three, two-day chemotherapy treatments with a three week break between them.<\/p>\n

As of January 2018, all his tests have come back clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to stay positive.\u201d<\/h2>\n

Willie turned it over to God and stayed positive and busy throughout the treatments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a lot of people praying for me and came through it better than most. I asked everyone to pray for me. I believed it could beat,\u201d Willie said. \u201cI was surprised how many churches had me on their prayer lists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the treatments, Willie was able to still eat solid food and drink Ensure\u00ae. He never needed a feeding tube.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have got to eat. It hurt sometimes, but I would still get some solid food down,\u201d Willie said. \u201cI did better than most. Some of my friends had to have feeding tubes.\u201d<\/p>\n

His wife, Sharon, agreed. \u201cHe didn\u2019t get real sick. Sometimes, Willie would come home from treatment and mow the grass. He always had a positive attitude and didn\u2019t mope around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willie\u2019s advice to anyone who receives a cancer diagnosis. \u201cListen to your doctors and do what they tell you to do. And when you get scared, turn it over to God.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Willie Heindricks had a persistent sore throat. He was losing weight and having difficulty swallowing and over-the-counter medication didn\u2019t seem to help. The Jerseyville resident didn\u2019t think too much about it until he started coughing up small amounts of blood. He scheduled an appointment with ear, nose and throat specialist Dr. Keith Bonacquisti of OSF […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":3531,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101,223],"tags":[418,660,794,795],"coauthors":[687],"class_list":["post-3492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancer","category-patient-story","tag-chemotherapy","tag-osf-saint-anthonys","tag-radiation","tag-throat-cancer"],"yoast_head":"\nThroat cancer survivor: "God led me here" | OSF HealthCare Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A persistent sore throat, weight loss and other unsettling symptoms led Willie Heindricks to an ENT where he was diagnosed with throat cancer.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Throat cancer survivor: "God led me here"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A persistent sore throat, weight loss and other unsettling symptoms led Willie Heindricks to an ENT where he was diagnosed with throat cancer.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OSF HealthCare Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-09T18:42:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-22T13:44:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Willie-and-Sherry-Heindricks.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Pruitt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Throat cancer survivor: "God led me here"\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"A persistent sore throat, weight loss and other unsettling symptoms led Willie Heindricks to an ENT where he was diagnosed with throat cancer.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Willie-and-Sherry-Heindricks.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Pruitt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/\",\"name\":\"Throat cancer survivor: \\\"God led me here\\\" | OSF HealthCare Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Willie-and-Sherry-Heindricks.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-09T18:42:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-22T13:44:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/958ed81be889316c3d5c0abf8ef74f88\"},\"description\":\"A persistent sore throat, weight loss and other unsettling symptoms led Willie Heindricks to an ENT where he was diagnosed with throat cancer.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Willie-and-Sherry-Heindricks.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Willie-and-Sherry-Heindricks.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Willie and Sherry Heindricks with their horses\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Throat cancer survivor: “God led me here”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"OSF HealthCare Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/958ed81be889316c3d5c0abf8ef74f88\",\"name\":\"David Pruitt\",\"description\":\"David Pruitt is a writer for the Marketing & Communications division of OSF HealthCare. He has a bachelor\u2019s of journalism from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and worked as a reporter before joining OSF HealthCare in 2014. An avid golfer and fisherman, David was born and raised Alton, Illinois, which is where he currently resides with his son, James.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/author\/dpruitt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Throat cancer survivor: \"God led me here\" | OSF HealthCare Blog","description":"A persistent sore throat, weight loss and other unsettling symptoms led Willie Heindricks to an ENT where he was diagnosed with throat cancer.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Throat cancer survivor: \"God led me here\"","og_description":"A persistent sore throat, weight loss and other unsettling symptoms led Willie Heindricks to an ENT where he was diagnosed with throat cancer.","og_url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/","og_site_name":"OSF HealthCare Blog","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/osfhealthcare","article_published_time":"2018-04-09T18:42:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-04-22T13:44:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Willie-and-Sherry-Heindricks.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Pruitt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Throat cancer survivor: \"God led me here\"","twitter_description":"A persistent sore throat, weight loss and other unsettling symptoms led Willie Heindricks to an ENT where he was diagnosed with throat cancer.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Willie-and-Sherry-Heindricks.jpg","twitter_creator":"@osfhealthcare","twitter_site":"@osfhealthcare","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Pruitt","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/","name":"Throat cancer survivor: \"God led me here\" | OSF HealthCare Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Willie-and-Sherry-Heindricks.jpg","datePublished":"2018-04-09T18:42:31+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-22T13:44:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/958ed81be889316c3d5c0abf8ef74f88"},"description":"A persistent sore throat, weight loss and other unsettling symptoms led Willie Heindricks to an ENT where he was diagnosed with throat cancer.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Willie-and-Sherry-Heindricks.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Willie-and-Sherry-Heindricks.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Willie and Sherry Heindricks with their horses"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/willie-heindricks-survivor-head-and-neck-cancer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Throat cancer survivor: “God led me here”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/","name":"OSF HealthCare Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/958ed81be889316c3d5c0abf8ef74f88","name":"David Pruitt","description":"David Pruitt is a writer for the Marketing & Communications division of OSF HealthCare. He has a bachelor\u2019s of journalism from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and worked as a reporter before joining OSF HealthCare in 2014. An avid golfer and fisherman, David was born and raised Alton, Illinois, which is where he currently resides with his son, James.","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/author\/dpruitt\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Maisey Link","featured_image_url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Willie-and-Sherry-Heindricks.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3492"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14633,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492\/revisions\/14633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3492"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}