My brother Guy Mandel and his wife Ellie, who are the two kindest, most loving, and selfless people I’ve ever met, NEED OUR HELP. They lead with love and are always the first to give of themselves and do whatever is needed to help others, and they need our love in return through some very trying times.
Many of you may not know, as he is extremely private, but Guy was diagnosed with throat cancer after losing his voice in November. A biopsy confirmed squamous cell carcinoma of the vocal cords. This commonly affects people who drink and/or smoke, though Guy is only 54, has never smoked a day in his life, and also doesn’t drink, so we were all initially caught off guard. He began radiation and chemo on December 26th, which ran for 7 weeks, finally wrapping up right around Valentine’s Day with the hope of being one of the 90-95 percent of people with this type of cancer who are cured or have a 5-plus year survival rate. The chemo and radiation did a number on him, and because he was so sick, he was unable to eat and had to have a feeding tube put in to keep him going. All the while, he showed up at his favorite place in the world, JUST IN TIME CAFE in Peabody, which he and Ellie own and have put everything into over the last 11 years. He worked day in and day out, even while sick, doing what he loved to do and serving the Peabody community that he loves, which helped him get through some of the hardest days, even when he barely had the energy to stand.
Recently, Guy had his PET scan scheduled once the treatment was complete to hopefully confirm that the cancer was gone and he could be back to work full-time doing what he loves to do. Many people have long, drawn-out symptoms and difficulty swallowing and breathing after the high doses of radiation and chemo that need to be used against a cancer like this and take time to recover. Guy was no different and was battling while healing and remaining hopeful.
Unfortunately, his PET scan in May showed some concerning areas in his neck/larynx that shouldn’t be there, so he scheduled a biopsy for last Friday where they would hopefully give him the all-clear that it was just scar tissue from the radiation. The lead-up to that biopsy was a very difficult two weeks as he was worried, like any of us would be, that the treatment didn’t work. His throat was getting worse and worse to the point that it was even hard to swallow water without choking on it and having it end up in his airway multiple times. He had a slight infection from this, which he was being treated for prior to going in, and we thought nothing of it and thought it would be a routine outpatient biopsy like he’s had before and he’d be home by 2 pm. Unfortunately for us, it was anything but routine, and this last week has been the hardest our family has ever had to deal with.
Guy had his procedure and woke up like normal. While in recovery, his oxygen was dipping, and his airway began to close, so they held him from being released to watch him, and we are thankful they did. Within an hour, it was clear that he was in danger of not making it and had to have an emergency tracheostomy in his neck to bypass his throat so he could breathe. He survived the procedure and was resting peacefully when our worst nightmare happened in the middle of the night. Guy’s blood pressure dropped, and his heart and organs began to fail while his body shut down. The amazing staff in the surgical ICU at Lahey Beth Israel were able to save his life, but we discovered that he had a massive infection caused by pneumonia, which was filling up his chest cavity and also caused his immune response to go haywire and began attacking itself, which included his platelets that dropped down to 6 and put him at risk of bleeding to death, and his lungs, heart, and kidneys.
He has now been in the ICU for 9 days on a ventilator and has been extremely critical, but we are praying every single day that we will get Guy healthy and get him home to us to live many more years of being the rock of our family and that we are able to get him back to run the restaurant that he loves and customers that he loves serving and seeing every single day.
Everyone who knows him will attest that he would give you his last dollar or the shirt off his back or overfeed you if you needed a meal and not even think twice about it, and I want to return the favor for him. He will hate that I’m doing this, but he has a very long road of recovery ahead, and his progress has been very slow and steady. He is battling a major infection still, and the hospital is doing everything they can to keep him with us. While the outcome remains uncertain, we are praying and hopeful, and he needs all the help he can get.
I’m asking for your prayers more than anything else to help heal my brother and make him strong enough to beat this infection, heal his body, and come home to us.
It will be a long road to recovery for him from this setback, and he will require rehab as well, but also will face another major surgery in order to remove the cancer, which has now been confirmed to have returned even after all of the treatment he had to endure. Guy, unfortunately, is in the 5-10 percent of people who have this highly successful treatment fail and have the cancer persist. We just found out today that as long as he can get healthy again from this major recent setback, his doctors believe they can completely cure him with a full laryngectomy, which will remove his vocal cords and larynx but also remove all cancer, which thankfully hasn’t spread outside of the area.
He will have a ton of downtime and a long road to recovery, and aside from getting as many people praying for his recovery as possible, I’m also hoping for us to help give back to him like he has given to all of us over the years. Every dollar we can raise will help ensure that he will not have the stress of money hindering his recovery and so that Ellie and Guy can focus on getting him better and back to running the restaurant that he loves, which he has never once closed down to even take a vacation.
My additional hope is, aside from covering their hefty medical bills and expenses arising from this string of events to ease their burden, that we also leave them enough left over to finally close down the restaurant for a week and go on vacation when this is hopefully all behind them, God willing. Anyone who runs a restaurant knows that it is always week to week, and Guy has never closed because he never wanted to disappoint all those who have been so loyal to Just In Time Cafe over the years. It’s my hope that we give him no choice after seeing how fragile life is and that we get him back to doing what he loves but also give him the ability to stop and smell the roses too. Knowing Guy, this part may be harder because he loves nothing more than being at Just In Time.
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to read this story and thank you for your prayers and anything you can give to help his recovery process be as stress-free as possible so that he can focus on the things that matter most, being here with us to keep spreading his love through food, friendship, and family.
I will use this page to keep all of us who love him and Ellie updated on his recovery.
Thank you.
