Joe’s Story

Site created on July 15, 2018

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.


Many dear friends and acquaintances of Joe have asked about his condition.  As many of you know, Joe was diagnosed with Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma at the end of May.  This lymphoma is both very aggressive and highly treatable, even curable.  It also had the effect of releasing large amounts of calcium into Joe's bloodstream,, which had compromised his kidneys, and his compromised kidneys were a concern as he considered chemo treatments, which put a further burden on the kidneys.  Nonetheless, he decided to go ahead with treatment in the third week of June, and he responded very well in that he experienced no nausea or other debilitating side effects.  Unfortunately, one week after his first chemo treatment, Joe developed sepsis and went into septic shock, with a high fever, delirium, and plummeting blood pressure.  He was rushed to the ICU at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, where the doctors immediately implemented their protocol for sepsis:  massive amounts of antibiotics to control the infection and blood pressure medications to raise and stabilize Joe's blood pressure.  He was sedated and, when he developed problems breathing a day later, intubated and put on a ventilator.  Joe's infection now appears to be gone; his blood pressure has stabilized, and his temperature is normal.  He is still on the ventilator and in an induced coma to enable him to rest comfortably.   In addition, the doctors have also now introduced intermittent dialysis to assist Joe's kidneys in removing fluids from his body.


We appreciate that many of you would like to visit Joe, but at this point we are limiting visitors to family members and very close friends so that Joe can get the rest his body needs.  My brother Paul and I will keep you updated on his condition on this website.  We invite you to share it with other friends of Joe and to write to him on this site.


Thank you for your love and concern for Joe.  We deeply appreciate it.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Elizabeth Langland

Dear All,

Our warm thanks to all of you who have been visiting Joe.  He very much appreciates seeing you.  I am grateful to Jerry Fischer and Bruce Wallace for providing Joe's telephone number and address at the Center for Extended Care at Amherst.  In case you didn't see their comments, Joe's room telephone # is 413-276-7027.  Joe also has his cell phone in his room:  413-575-9979.  His address:

Center for Extended Care at Amherst
Room 65
150 University Drive
Amherst, MA  01002

Joe is now doing regular physical therapy which will enable him to regain strength and mobility.  He's looking for folks at CECAA who might want to play cards or cribbage.  I'm sure he'd welcome a game with any visitors.

With gratitude,
Elizabeth/Buffie
Patients and caregivers love hearing from you; add a comment to show your support.
Help Joe Stay Connected to Family and Friends

Your $25 donation to CaringBridge will help keep this site online for two weeks. And if you donate by March 28, a generous CaringBridge donor will match your donation, dollar for dollar, up to $10,000.

Make your gift in honor of Joe by midnight on March 28 to be counted!

Comments Hide comments

Show Your Support

See the Ways to Help page to get even more involved.

SVG_Icons_Back_To_Top
Top