Ken Steinback has only a hazy memory of his first meeting with Nancy Bartlett, MD,
a prominent Washington University School of Medicine oncologist at Barnes-Jewish
Hospital. After all, their first face-to-face encounter was under horrible circumstances.
Just 11 months after believing he was in remission from lymphoma, Ken learned the
disease had returned.
“I was so nervous and depressed when
I met Dr. Bartlett. I was convinced that
I was going to die,” Ken says. “I always tell
people with cancer to take someone with
you to your appointments because you
won’t process anything the doctor says.”
While he might not remember much about
Dr. Bartlett from that initial appointment
18 years ago, Ken’s current vision of her
is crystal clear. Thanks to Dr. Bartlett and
her team at The Alvin J. Siteman Cancer
Center, Ken is now in remission after
three bouts of an aggressive form of
non-Hodgkin lymphoma that started
with his first diagnosis in 2000.
“Nancy started out as my physician and
has now become my friend. I’m here
because of her,” Ken says. “She could ask
me to jump off the Empire State Building
and I probably would consider it!”
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a cancer
that starts in white blood cells called
lymphocytes, which are part of the body’s
immune system. These cancerous cells
can travel and form tumors in many
areas of the body, including the lymph
nodes, spleen, bone marrow, blood,
or other organs.
Ken’s personal experience led him
and his wife, Marilyn, to establish
The Kenneth B. Steinback Cancer
Research Fund, which was formally
launched at The Foundation for
Barnes-Jewish Hospital in 2008.
The purpose of the fund is to provide
the financial resources needed for
Dr. Bartlett and her team to lead
innovative lymphoma research.
“I’m a business guy who looks for a return
on my investment,” Ken says. “Hopefully,
the investment from the Steinback Fund
will foster significant research leading
to either new cures or innovations for
non-Hodgkin lymphoma.”
Since the inception of the Steinback fund,
313 donors have given and/or pledged
a total of more than $1,439,000 through
733 individual gifts. The total includes gifts from Ken, who has also donated
his time to help elevate medical research
and patient care by serving on the board
of trustees of the Foundation, which he
chaired from 2008 to 2012. He continues
his involvement as an emeritus member.
“It gives me great pleasure to give to an
important cause,” Ken says. “It’s especially
true in my case. Dr. Bartlett gave me
18 years of my life and counting.”
Ken is the founder and former chairman
of St. Louis-based CSI Leasing, Inc.,
one of the world’s largest independent
equipment leasing companies. He was
57 and the head of the company when
his battle against cancer began. The
lymphoma’s aggressiveness made the
journey an arduous one, marked by
challenging chemotherapy treatments and
a difficult stem cell transplant. But today,
Ken’s follow-up appointments are relatively
easy and short. At most, he might wait 35
to 45 minutes for Dr. Bartlett to walk into
the examination room but he doesn’t mind.
“If she keeps me waiting, I know that she has
another patient who needs her attention more
than I do at the moment. She is so special
and attentive to the needs of each patient.”
Dr. Bartlett is indeed special. In addition
to the compassionate and knowledgeable
care she provides her patients, Dr. Bartlett,
the Koman Chair of Medical Oncology,
has directed the lymphoma research
and treatment program at Siteman and
Barnes-Jewish Hospital for more than 20 years. The program is considered
a national leader in clinical trials
aimed at evaluating new approaches
in lymphoma treatment.
Support from the Steinback Fund is
playing a significant role in the ability
of Dr. Bartlett and her team to conduct
leading-edge studies that will provide
a much deeper understanding of the
causes of lymphoma; a basis for placing
patients in clinical studies based on
their mutation profiles; and new targets
for drug development.
In 2018, Ken, along with Bob Virgil
and Bill Koman, who are also patients
of Dr. Bartlett, launched a fundraising
initiative to support early stage research
being led by Dr. Bartlett and her team.
This research will be instrumental
in advancing understanding of the
progression and treatment of lymphoma.
The important resources raised will also
help attract additional scientists who
can accelerate and expand the promising
projects underway.
Studies that will take knowledge and
treatment to the next level include those
that are aimed at developing new
strategies to augment immune response to lymphoma; identifying recurrent
mutations that predict response to
chemotherapy-free approaches; and
identifying potential targets for tumor
specific vaccines.
"I believe with adequate
support, our team is
poised to make very
important contributions
toward these lofty goals,”
Dr. Bartlett says.
In addition to helping further this research,
Ken says gifts to the Fund support a cause
that’s very important to Dr. Bartlett and
he thinks there is no better way to show
appreciation for her work.
“We need to support medical research or the
quality of medicine will diminish. Not only
will the quality go down, but we won’t have
the growth, new enhancements, or advanced
therapies and surgeries.” Adding another
important point, he says, “If we don’t support
clinicians and researchers, we won’t keep
the best physicians, and we want the best.”