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A different outcome

Ford, motivated by sister, pursues career in medicine

-Submitted photo
Nolan Ford, a Rockwell City native, works with a test sample at the University of Northern Iowa. Ford is hoping to attend medical school next year. His path was inspired by his sister, MacKenzie, who died from a rare form of brain and spinal cancer in 2006.

CEDAR FALLS — Much of Nolan Ford’s time during his first eight years of life was spent in hospital waiting rooms and doctors’ offices.

But Ford, a native of Rockwell City, wasn’t in those hospitals because he was sick. His sister, MacKenzie, suffered from a rare form of brain and spinal cancer. She was diagnosed with malignant peripheral nerve sheath as an infant.

“I was just a toddler,” Ford said. “But this persisted for eight years of my childhood. I watched my sister battle this cancer.”

His sister beat the cancer once. She was in remission for a period of about four years before it returned.

“She still felt a lot of pain along the way, too,” Ford said.

-Submitted photo
Nolan Ford’s sister, MacKenzie, is shown getting her blood pressure checked during a hospital visit in Iowa City in 2001. She passed away in 2006 after battling a rare form of brain and spinal cancer. Nolan Ford is the child in front.

Eventually, MacKenzie would receive care at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City.

When the cancer returned, Nolan Ford’s world at 7 years old was flipped upside down.

“This time my family had to give up their jobs and go to the University of Iowa,” Ford said. “This time we would be there for good.”

Ford fell behind in his schoolwork. He even feared that he would fail the second grade.

“It was really tough,” he said. “I was getting mailed a bunch of homework assignments.”

But he endured. And while he was watching over his sister, he took notice of the level of care she received.

“I was able to see neurosurgery treatments,” he said. “I saw hundreds of blood transfusions. I got to see the level of care she received from nurses, physicians, pharmacists, researchers.”

And other children had an impact on Ford, too.

“At the Ronald McDonald House, there were kids similar to MacKenzie,” he said. “It really showed me there’s a lot of sick kids and they deserve a better quality of life. There was a lot of kids who lost their hair like my sister. I just saw that a lot of them were fighting through the same things my sister was. I couldn’t do anything for them medically and I felt helpless. That’s what sunk deep in my psyche.”

One day while Ford was at the Ronald McDonald House, he and his family were called to the hospital. There, MacKenzie’s primary doctor, Raymond Tannous, showed an MRI of MacKenzie’s brain. It revealed multiple tumors.

“My family and I were stunned to see that,” Ford said. “We knew our time with MacKenzie was coming to an end. It was a really big pill for my family to swallow.”

But before her passing, doctors at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics had the opportunity to perform a clinical trial on her.

Although the trial had little chance of success, Ford recalls his sister saying, “If I go through with this, could it prevent other kids from hurting like me?”

Dr. Sue O’Dorisio, a medical oncologist who led clinical trials, said that, ‘Yes, it could open the door to help kids like her.”

And so the trial was implemented.

“When we did the trial, it failed,” Ford said. “She had to have a bone marrow transplant and they were going to do targeted radiation, but we never got to that point.”

MacKenzie died in January 2006 at the age of 9. Nolan was 8.

But he said the trial helped further medical research into the disease.

“It provided data and a model for researchers all over the country to examine and modify this trial so that it might help other children,” Ford said. “My sister sacrificed herself in a trial to help other kids have a quality of life and that really meant the world to me.”

Ford described his sister as “very strong, gifted and having an understanding of life very few possess.”

He added, “She had a very snarky sense of humor. Giggly. She was loved by family and friends. She never gave up.”

Her favorite character was Barney, the purple dinosaur from the children’s TV show. And before she passed away, MacKenzie was able to meet Barney.

“My family was granted a trip by Make-A-Wish Foundation and we got all the way to Orlando, Florida, where MacKenzie got to meet Barney,” Ford said. “However, when we got there, Barney was like 7 feet tall and she ran away. But that was really special to her to be able to see Barney.”

In thinking back to the times Ford was in the hospital with his sister, he appreciates the care that was provided.

“Most children diagnosed with this type of cancer usually live 5 to 6 months,” he said. “Through relentless hard work of these providers, they gave my sister eight amazing years of life. If we didn’t have all the great teamwork, my sister would not have been able to fight as long.

“As a kid, it was very traumatic and difficult to deal with as a family because many days MacKenzie was in a lot of excruciating pain. We could be having the most gloomy day as a family and every day at the hospital they treated us like family.”

Those experiences never left Ford. And he is now pursuing a career in medicine.

“Dr. Tannous had this way of interacting with MacKenzie, getting her to laugh and smile while tackling chemotherapy treatments,” Ford said. “That kept her motivated. That really showed me how rewarding it would be to become a physician someday. I would really like to give a quality of life to kids like her.”

Ford graduated from South Central Calhoun High School in Lake City in 2016. He is attending the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, where he is double majoring in biochemistry and biology.

He has also returned to the same hospital where his sister was cared for. He volunteered in the pediatric intensive care unit at the Stead Family Children’s Hospital.

“I was really interested in cancer and biomedical sciences, so every single day in summer of 2019, I traveled back and forth between Cedar Falls and Iowa City to study cancer,” Ford said. “I drove back and forth, back and forth. It was very tiring, but my time there was invaluable. I worked with a team that really developed my understanding of the progression of cancer. I also shadowed a lot of specialties in the same place my sister was treated.”

And through his studies, he has reconnected with O’Dorisio, the doctor who was involved in treating his sister.

“She’s become my greatest mentor,” Ford said. “I am doing research with her right now.”

He funded the trips to Iowa City by working as a home health aid in Cedar Falls.

Ford plans to take the MCAT in January. He will be applying for medical school in the summer after his graduation from UNI.

His sister continues to inspire him.

“What’s really fueled my drive is remembering my sister and kids like my sister who are suffering day in and day out,” Ford said. “I really want to change those outcomes for people like my sister.”

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