Jeffrey’s Story

Site created on September 11, 2022

Hello Family and Friends,

In 1996 I had my first kidney transplant at the University of Minnesota. I was fortunate to receive one of my brother Randy’s kidneys. Except for multiple rejections post-surgery, the kidney remained healthy for 14 years.  As a result of the kidney transplant, I was prescribed many any-rejection medications. At times, I was taking 20 pills a day. Although there are many side-effects to these medications, the one that has been causing me some problems over the last 15+ years is skin cancer.

I have been struggling with Basel Cell Carcinoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Over the years, I have had skin cancer spots removed from various spots on my arms, face, and head. Then in 2010, I had a second kidney transplant (almost 14 years to the day of the first transplant) at Hennepin County Hospital. I again was fortunate for my old neighbor and friend Reed’s generous gift of a kidney. Now, 12 years later, the kidney continues to function well. 

In this time frame, I also had multiple knee surgeries including two replacements, a double hernia surgery, and four-foot surgeries. I was also diagnosed with high blood pressure and diabetes due to the renal failure. On top of all of that I had Covid and spent 8 days in St. John's Hospital back in November of 2020, they sent me home with an oxygen tank. 

In April, the cancer became more invasive resulting in another surgery. Mohs surgery was performed on 4/20/22 at the University of MN. Mohs surgery is microscopically controlled surgery used to treat skin cancer, removing the tissue to later examine the cancerous cells. 

Shortly after the surgery, I noticed a very large lump growing under my skin in the same place the tissue was earlier removed. It caused some pain, dizziness, and exhaustion. I was then referred to Dr. Gendron and Dr. Griffin at Midwest ENT. Dr Gendron was not sure if the cancer had grown back or if something may have been overlooked in the first surgery. Dr. Gendron performed a second surgery on Monday, 8/29.

We knew the surgery was incredibly important to not only remove the cancer but to diagnose the next steps in the cancer treatment.  Due to my renal failure, it was decided that the surgery would be at United Hospital.  The doctor felt that surgery went well, removing the parotid gland in the right neck along with 10 lymph nodes in the gland and 9 lymph nodes outside the gland. Everything removed was sent to Pathology and now hinged on getting the report and findings back.  

The Pathology Report was returned the following Tuesday (9/6).  There were 19 lymph nodes removed (10 in the gland and 9 outside the gland). Of the 19 lymph nodes removed, 17 had Metastatic Infiltrative Carcinoma. Upon this finding, the doctor felt that there was more cancer in other lymph nodes, even though it wasn’t detected in the Pet Scan. In addition, I was also diagnosed with Paget’s Disease which is a rare cancer typically slow growing but mine is growing rapidly. This cancer is very rare with only a 100 or so cases out there and me being the second case in Minnesota.

Dr Gendron and 10 of her colleagues met and made the decision to move forward with Radiation Therapy. Right now, Chemotherapy is not an option due to my renal failure but may be in the future. Radiation is scheduled within the next week. I will receive radiation 5 days a week for 7 weeks. The main concern is that the cancer could be spreading to the brain.

Thank you for following my story. I will post updates as we learn more.

Newest Update

March 21, 2023

Journal entry by Jeffrey Lindorfer —

I apologize to everyone that follows Jeffrey on this site as I haven’t posted any updates for a while.  Just to bring everyone up to speed, Jeff received the results from his CT scan on Monday, February 28th post the Chemo and Radiation treatments.  The good news was that the cancer was gone in his head and neck area but the bad news was that the cancer had spread to the lungs and bones.  Jeff was given 1-2 years to live.  The plan was to get a bone biopsy to confirm what was seen on the CT scan and then start immunotherapy treatment asap.  

The following Saturday, March 4th, Jeff was having trouble breathing and by Monday, March 6th,  Oncology sent him to the hospital thinking he had walking pneumonia. In the hospital, they determined that he had anemia and an infection, they said he was septic.  They were treating him with antibiotics, blood, and platelet transfusions. Jeff had many tests done between the time he arrived at the hospital and the time he passed. The tests didn’t determine much except for the CT scan he had when he came in to the hospital, it showed the cancer was now on the liver.  Initially they thought that everything Jeff was experiencing was attributed to the infection and not cancer. As time moved on their conclusion changed and realized it was indeed due to the cancer, the bone biopsy that he had on March 15th confirmed that.

Before we received this news, Aaron and I had flown to Knoxville, TN to watch Alivia swim at NCAAs (her last meet as a Senior). We were able to see her swim the 500 Free on Thursday and received the news later in the afternoon. It was decided that we needed to leave the meet and get home asap.  This is not an easy task when you’re in Knoxville and had planned to fly out of Nashville.

We made it back and got to the hospital by 3pm on Friday. We were fortunate to have Jeff’s brother Randy at the hospital from Wednesday to Friday.  When we got to the hospital, Jeff’s team held a meeting with us and told us that there was nothing more that could be done and they wanted to start setting him up for Hospice care, removing the current treatments that they were conducting with the goal to keep him comfortable.  It wasn’t long before Jeff’s body started shutting down and he passed at 8pm on Friday, March 18th. 

Jeff has gone through a lot over the last 27 years, and I hope he is now out of pain and in peace. Alivia, Aaron, and I would like to thank everyone who diligently checked in on him.  I know that Jeff appreciated the cards, the calls, the text and the visits even though half the time he probably wasn’t up to it. And of course we really appreciate his brother Randy who took Jeff to almost every appointment allowing me to continue to work.  It was a lot of driving for Randy, and he lost many of his weekdays…it was very much appreciated.  I know that Jeff liked spending time with Randy and was comforted by his presence during this time.

Jeff’s Celebration of Life will be held on Friday. March 24th at the Oakwood Funeral Home in Maplewood. There will be a visitation from 3-6pm with the ceremony to follow.  

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