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In memory of
John "Guido" Anthony Kopnisky
May 20, 1964 - January 8, 2025
May 20, 1964 - Jan 8, 2025
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Background
In 2020, John went to his doctor for consistent back pain and was diagnosed with Stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma. He had to undergo an autologous (ASCT) stem cell transplant at UH Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Although John’s stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma was in remission after the ASCT, John had to undergo many years of chemo. John and his family were looking forward to his upcoming last chemo treatment in March of 2025 which was finally approaching. John was planning multiple ways that he wanted to celebrate this wonderful milestone with various family members and his girlfriend. In early August John started to notice a couple of changes that weren't his normal chemo side effects. During his many doctor appointments and various testing he was undergoing, John kept getting sicker and sicker. They were all worried that his Mantle Cell Lymphoma returned and even though his UH cancer team confirmed that John's Mantle Cell was still in remission, they discovered that John was now in early stage of Myelodysplastic (MDS) Syndrome. This would require John to have another stem cell transplant but this time it would be an allogeneic (ALLO) stem cell transplant. John would not be able to use his own stem cells like he did last time because his bone marrow produces too many immature blood cells, called blast cells, and not enough healthy blood cells. John would need to use blood-forming stem cells from another person (a donor). They started the steps for John to proceed and all of his siblings were swabbed to see if any of them were a full DNA match. To their delight, four family members wound up being a full match. During this time, John's health kept depleting, he kept seeing various doctors for all kinds of testing in an attempt to figure out what was causing all of John's increasing symptoms and health issues and in an attempt to get him back to good health so they could proceed with his ALLO. They were assured by his Cleveland stem cell team, his Canfield cancer doctor, and the new doctors that none of his current symptoms and issues were caused by the new MDS. Not only was the MDS in a very early stage but none of John's symptoms were MDS symptoms. Plus all of his current blood work would let them know if his MDS had progressed at all. John wound up in Mercy Health (MH) Boardman ER, then admitted as a patient. Once they had John stable, he was transported to Shepherd of the Valley - Boardman for in-patient rehab. John's health kept deteriorating and he started having falls. After his third fall, the agency nurse that was working that day, told John's POA that John was throwing himself down on purpose and laughing at them. She said John was doing this on purpose because he wanted to go home. John's POA went to the skilled nursing home every day. She would sit with, visit, and evaluate John each day. On the morning of his third fall, John's POA thought he had a stroke. John thought Ronald Regan was the President, he couldn't remember his full name, he didn't know where he lived, he couldn't lift his right arm all the way up, he couldn't stand, and he was saying and seeing things that weren't there. The POA told all of this to the agency nurse to which the nurse replied that he did not have a stroke, she checked him for that, he was medically fine. Once again, the agency nurse said John was falling on purpose in an attempt to leave. The POA told her that she knows her brother, he wouldn't do anything like that. Plus he is a big man so why would he throw himself down when it would be hard for him to get back up. It's perfectly clear and obvious that there is something wrong and going on with him, that he needed to go to the ER ASAP so they can find out what's wrong. The agency nurse told the POA that she would have to sign John out against medical advice if she wanted him to go the ER and she let the POA know that she would be informing the ER and EMT of her findings. John's POA told her to go do what she felt she needed to do and that she (the POA) would do what she felt she needed to do. The POA then called 911. The EMT arrived quickly and John was transported back to MH Boardman ER in a timely manner. John's POA found out that John's hemoglobin was under 5 and the ER nurse told the POA, his hemoglobin alone would cause John to fall and it would also cause him to say wild things and see things that aren't really there. John was given two units of blood in the ER and they did an X-ray to see if John had fractured his shoulder. John did not break his shoulder but the ER doctor thought he tore his rotator cuff. John was admitted into MH hospital but he deteriorated even more. One of the in-house doctor's at Mercy Health told one of John's sister's that happened to be at the hospital sitting with him for the day, that he had Vascular Dementia and that his Mantle Cell came back with a vengeance and was the cause of what was happening. He also informed her that John only had three weeks to live. This sister called her other sister (John's POA) right away to inform her of this news. John's POA assured her that John does NOT have Vascular Dementia, it was never mentioned by any of his doctor's nor has it shown up on any of his tests. The POA also assured her sister that John's Mantle Cell is still in remission and that this had been recently confirmed. This news made the POA reach out to John's Cleveland stem cell team and they confirmed that John did NOT have Vascular Dementia and that she needed to put in a request to have John transported to UH Seidman Cancer Center. The POA called right away and submitted the transport request. His POA also confirmed with the Cleveland stem cell nurse that the request was in fact submitted and that they can see it on their end. They confirmed that it was submitted and informed the POA that MH would be the entity to set up the actual transport. John's transport was scheduled to happen that night but he was not picked up as scheduled. The MH nurse did not notified John’s POA that John’s transport was delayed until the following morning until she pushed the nurse button to inquire where transport was and ask when it would arrive. She only made the inquiry after several hours had passed by the scheduled pick up time. The next morning the POA called John's floor nurse to confirm that he was still scheduled to be transported that morning. Once the nurse confirmed that he was still scheduled for transport at 7 a.m., the POA drove to Cleveland. When she was nearing downtown Cleveland she called again to verify that John was in fact picked up and on his way, only to find out that transport was delayed again. His POA drove back to MH Boardman and during her drive back she reached out to John's MH social worker. She was attempting to find out why there was another delay and to let her know that if John loses the bed that was being held for him in Cleveland she was going to be really upset and angry. The social worker said she would look into it and provided the POA with the transport name and phone number. First the POA confirmed with the Cleveland stem cell nurse that the bed was still being held for John and then she reached out to the transport company. The transport dispatcher would not speak with the POA or provide her with any information on why there had been two delays. The dispatcher said she didn't know who was on the line with her so she couldn't provide any information. The POA said, "how do you think I know the name of the transport company and where do you think I got the phone number?” The POA also said she had no idea who was supposed to transport her brother until she got the information from the hospital. Still the dispatcher would not speak with the POA so she asked the dispatcher to have her boss give her a call and she left her name and phone number with the dispatcher and then she ended the call. The POA then called back John's MH social worker and begged her to look into the reason for the delays and asked her to reach out to the transport company and have the manager give her a call. She also informed the social worker that if John's transport gets delayed one more time and/or if John should lose the bed that's being held for him in Cleveland, there is going to be a big problem. Needless to say, John's transport did in fact arrive for its next scheduled time. To add to this sad story, during John's stay at MH, John was never given an IV, never given oxygen, and she's not even sure if they were attempting to treat any of John's symptoms besides another unit of blood and an MRI. The POA told them John used a CPAC at night and it took two days to get that. She asked for a neuro evaluation and was told they didn't have neurology at that location. She asked for respiratory to come and take a look at John because she thought she heard him wheezing. They adjusted John in bed and said they didn't hear it anymore. The POA asked the nurse to still put in her request for respiratory. The next day she asked if respiratory ever came and was told no but the order is in. John's wheeze got louder so she said could you reach out again, I think he needs a breathing treatment. The nurse said Oh, do you still want respiratory to come since he's being transported today. The POA replied YES, of course I do! A lot of time had passed from her additional respiratory request and still no one showed up to evaluate John's breathing. Transportation did in fact arrive and the EMTs were waiting out near the nurse's station. The POA was getting very upset waiting for respiratory so she went out by the nurse's station and said, quite loudly, "Apparently, I can't get respiratory to come and evaluate my brother's breathing and I honestly feel like time is of essence, so can you please just transport my brother now?" The EMT replied, "Ma'am, we can hear your brother breathing out here, so we must wait for him to receive a breathing treatment before we can transport him comfortably. This interaction got respiratory to the room right away. The POA arrived at UH Seidman Cancer Center before John's transport arrived and she was shown to his room. When transport wheeled John into his room his was unresponsive and a code white was called immediately! The room was shortly filled with all kinds of doctors and nurses, they each knew their individual task that they were supposed to perform and they worked on him without getting in each other's way! It was quite amazing to watch them work on this person that was just wheeled into their facility and to whom they had absolutely no background information or knowledge about. There were even individuals that were assigned to approach and ask the POA information about John as quickly as they possibly could in an attempt to figure out what was going on with John. The doctors that were working on him was listening to the POA's answers while they continued to work on him in an attempt to save him. They made a few adjustments as they listened to John's story that was being told by the POA. She said she never seen anything quite like it, she said there had to be an upwards of 20 to 30 individuals working very hard on trying to save him and doing it like they were synchronized dancers. They never got in each other's way because they each had and implemented their assigned tasks! They were able to save John that day! John arrived at UH on December 10, 2024 and from the moment they saved John on that very day, the specialty teams of doctors were amazing! The medical team, the blood team, the oncology team, the neurology team, the infectious disease team, respiratory team, etc. (so she doesn't overlook anyone) was incredible. They all worked with their individual teams and they also worked together as one whole team in an attempt to find out what was causing everything that was happening to John. They ran every test under the sun, repeated some of them more than once, making sure that they didn't miss anything. They put John on five of the world's most strongest antibiotics, fungal meds, inflammatory meds, EEGs, EKGs, Cat Scans, MRIs, Lumbar Punctures, etc. etc. etc. She said she can't remember the names of all of the tests, scans, scopes, etc. that they ran but there were so many. The teams ran tests for all of the normal diseases, bacterias, fungals, etc. and then they ran all kinds of tests for the unusual and rare diseases, bacterias, and fungals, etc. Everything kept coming back negative even John's brain was determined to be clean and clear. There were no seizures, strokes, brain bleeds, infections, blockages, etc. During all of this time and over several days, John had some good days and more bad days, he eventually picked up a fever and a couple of bacterias. John eventually stopped responding and started having breathing trouble again. Then his fevers started spiking to unchartable degrees, so high that his body and skin needed to be cooled down with a cooling body system that ran constant 55 degree cold water through it for several (She believes it was for 7 straight hours) hours. This was in addition to all the high potent fever meds they were giving him along with several other medications. It was determine that John was too sick to recover and his POA agreed that it was time for comfort care and Hospice. The ICU staff implemented John's comfort care immediately and gave the family the ICU room that he was currently in for the rest of the day and overnight. This would allow John one day of restful peace at the request of his POA and enough time for his entire large family and some of his friends to travel from their various locations so they can say goodbye to John. During John's stay at UH Seidman Cancer Center, he moved floors several times and with each move, they would transfer him from bed to bed. His POA wondered why hospitals do this to sick patients. She wondered why they just don't allow patients to stay in the bed they were originally put in. All hospitals beds should be of same size and quality so that they could just bring the empty bed that is in the room a patient from another floor will soon be occupying to the floor and room the patient just left. You know, a bed for a bed, so they don't have to keep moving the sick patient bed to bed. The fact of the matter is, that the hospital beds were not the same size and definitely not the same quality on each of the floors so the floors that had the nicer beds had to keep their beds. Here are the moves that John had to make while he just kept getting sicker. He was moved from oncology floor 3, to ICU floor 7, to the Step Down Floor 6, to Floor 3 again, back up to floor 7, then floor 6, then floor 3, then floor 7, with his last move, when Hospice took over, was to oncology floor 3 again. Can you imagine this many moves with how sick he was? This was in addition to all of the body rolling and body moves that were absolutely necessary to keep him comfortable and clean, and to prevent him getting body sores. John's POA can't say enough good things about UH Seidman Cancer Center and their teams of doctors, nurses, and assistants! She said, John had top notch care and that it was a world of difference from the care he received at MH. She said each and every one of them talked to John, informed him of everything that was being done to him at all times. Even when he stopped opening his eyes and responding, they continued to talk to him and still informed him of all that was happening. They were so very kind, gentle, and asked his family about what kind of man he was, so they could get to know him. She said a representative from each of the specialty teams stopped by on the day it was decided to turn to comfort care, so they could tell the family how sorry they were and how hard they worked to find the cause and a cure. The Hospice team was great too, they were compassionate, prayed with the family, asked questions about him, and they even offered music therapy during this time if the family wanted it. Of course they wanted music therapy for John and it was absolutely beautiful and gave a perfect peaceful ending for John's new beginning. The music therapist's name was Hope and she had the world's most beautiful voice! She sang John three beautiful songs while she played her guitar! It was very touching and moving for the family members that were present at the time. Hope asked about their brother after she was done singing her third song and she interacted with the family. The POA told her that she had a beautiful voice and that she should never stop singing and the rest of the family members that were present told her similar things as well. The hospital's catholic priest and the hospital chaplain both stopped by several times to pray and speak with John and his family. John went to our heavenly father and his father on Wednesday, January 8, 2025! John went from being a healthy man to stage 4 mantle cell cancer right away so he was unable to get any type of life insurance once he was diagnosed. He was also unable to continue to work from that point on. With all of his doctor visits, tests, chemo, etc over the last four years, John wasn't able to prepare financially for the time when he would leave this world and join his heavenly family. John doesn't have a wife or any children, therefore, the family would greatly appreciate a donation for funeral assistance in lieu of flowers. Thank you and God Bless!
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Funds are being collected and disbursed by Michelle Peters, John's sister.
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Memories & condolences
Dear Michelle & Dave, and entire Kopnisky family: Our hearts broke for you upon hearing of the loss of John. We neve…
Dear Michelle & Dave, and entire Kopnisky family: Our hearts broke for you upon hearing of the lo…
Dear Michelle & Dave, and entire Kopnisky family: Our hearts b…
So sorry for your loss John was a great man filled with compassion for all he was so loved. May he R.I.P. in our Lord…
So sorry for your loss John was a great man filled with compassion for all he was so loved. May he…
So sorry for your loss John was a great man filled with compass…
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