Treatment featured on Good Doctor available in Goshen

GOSHEN, Ind. --The Good Doctor on ABC 57 features some pretty amazing stories. In Monday's episode, a cancer patient's treatment isn't just something out of fiction, the same treatment is offered right here in Michiana.

It’s a special kind of chemo that's becoming more popular for treating certain types of cancers.

We went to the Goshen Center for Cancer Care to get the inside scoop on how it works and who its serving here locally.

The treatment featured on Monday's episode is called HIPEC administered with the Thermo Chem HT 2000.

It's not in every hospital and the only place you can find it in Indiana, at the Goshen Center for Cancer Care, something Doctor Leonard Henry is proud to  offer.

“As the only established program in Indiana, we’re getting patients from all over Indiana and the region, even outside the state," said Dr. Henry, surgical oncologist at Goshen Center for Cancer Care.

The treatment is only for select types of cancer.

“The common cancers this is used for appendicle, colorectal, ovarian and mesothelioma  which of course is very rare,” said Henry.

The treatment is just starting to grow in popularity in the United States but Dr. Henry says it’s already widely used for both colorectal and ovarian cancers in Europe.

One of the pioneering patients of the treatment in Goshen , Harvey Kemp.

He was diagnosed with cancer more than five years ago.

“When I had it to start with, I thought it might be a death sentence you know?” said Harvey Kemp, a Michiana Cancer Survivor.

Kemp says he was at work one day and experienced debilitating pain.

He went to Bremen Hospital and ended up having emergency surgery.

“They took out numerous tumors and then they closed me up but they couldn't get all of it , that's what they told me,” said Kemp.

After six ineffective cancer treatments Dr. Henry recommended the HIPEC treatment.

“Heated chemo, they pump it an hour and half inside my abdomen they rocked me, like rocking and they call that chemo wash,” said Kemp.

Dr. Henry says this type of chemo delivers the treatment directly into the abdomen cavity, because IV chemo is not as effective for that area of the body.

“The doses can be much higher and the same barrier that prevents chemotherapy from the vein from getting into the abdomen is the same barrier that limits the absorption of the peritoneal from getting into the blood so it limits toxicity,” said Dr. Henry.

This technique, able to target the cancer in the abdomen area, is why Harvey Kemp is cancer free today.

“I'm very fortunate for this treatment, because it gave me my life back," said Kemp.

Dr. Henry says about 20 patients will be treated with HIPEC in Goshen this year, compared to just one to two per year when it was first available in 2011.