AFTER DAYS of nonstop chemo infusions, Ezralee Swing was much too weak to open his eyes. Above the metal headboard of his hospital bed, a machine beeped. Had he finally completed his seventh day of treatment? Would the leukemia be in remission soon? His spine ached from lying in the same spot, so he shifted slightly. His strength evaporated from every muscle, and the last time the nurse weighed him, he overheard her say that he was down 65 pounds.
In the hallway, soft footsteps hurried past his door, then returned before slowing down and stopping near his bed. Metal chair legs whined as someone scooted them over the tile. Suddenly, a warm hand embraced his own. The palm was slightly larger than his wife, Dottie. Perhaps it was one of his three daughters? Ezralee pondered the thought as he slipped back into a restless sleep. When he awoke several hours later, the same hand clutched his, and he slowly realized that a nurse he’d never met before sat by his bedside. The angle of her bent neck and the silence coming from her moving lips let Ezralee know she was deep in prayer. When he awoke sometime later, she was gone. He never even knew her name.
Weeks earlier, he’d started experiencing shortness of breath. He feared a heart attack, but after a thorough examination, he was referred to Dr. Ruth Lamar, an oncologist at Saint Thomas in Nashville. His blood work and subsequent tests showed he had acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow. Since AML progresses quickly, Ezralee was prescribed seven days of around-the-clock chemotherapy. In order to beat his grim prognosis, the doctor said they must get his count “as close to zero as possible, without killing him first.”
When the week ended, his markers hovered at 85.
Ezralee recalled, “She told me I could go home, but I would pass within six months. Or they could start over. They told me to talk it over with my family and let them know what I decided. In the end, I took the gamble and started another seven days of chemo. I developed an ulcer, my kidneys shut down, I had an infection on my skin, and I struggled to breathe. On three separate occasions, they called my family in and told them I wouldn’t make it through the day or night.”
Ezralee stayed in the hospital for a total of 47 days, existing on a liquid diet. On Sept. 25, 2006, he asked to go home. The doctor gave his wife, Dottie, strict instructions that if his temperature rose above 100, she was to take him to the emergency room immediately. She was also warned that because of his compromised immune system, he couldn’t have any visitors. The days passed slowly for Ezralee, and he longed to get back in his workshop and build cabinets alongside his son-in-law, Troy Smith, and the rest of their crew at Swing Cabinets LLC.
By November 2006, Ezralee’s blood work confirmed that the leukemia was not in remission. His doctor ordered five days of chemo, which would begin the first week of December, and he would need another round beginning in January 2007.
“After those treatments, I went back to see my doctor each week, and then it became monthly, and then yearly. My doctor said that 99% of the time, leukemia comes back within two years. After 10 years of the leukemia not showing back up, she released me and said that unless there is a problem, I don’t need to see her again. I ran into her at the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration last August, and she called me ‘Miracle Man.’ I had several things in my favor because I was active. I had the support of my family, wonderful doctors, and nurses, and I had God on my side. I never really thought I was going to die. That never entered my mind. I just wanted to get back to what I like doing, and that’s building cabinets. I knew I had a family and my employees that were depending on me.”
Before opening Swing Cabinets LLC in 1988, Ezralee spent 35 years as a farmer, milking cows, raising hogs and beef cattle, and growing soybeans. In April, he and his wife, Dottie, will celebrate 60 years of marriage. They have three daughters, five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. He has served as a deacon at North Fork Baptist Church for over 40 years.
Chemo left Ezralee with a lung capacity of 40- 45%, causing him to require daily breathing treatments, and he has undergone a quadruple bypass in his heart. But through it all, he has remained dedicated to his wife, his family, his church, and to the employees and customers of Swing Cabinets LLC. GN
