FBI Agent battles Lymphoma 17 years after September 11th with the help of the Sentara Cancer Network

“I’ve seen a lot of pretty bad situations. I’ve worked explosive cases all around the world: the Embassy bombing in Africa, the Unabomber case, plane crashes in New York and Mexico. I’ve seen a lot of bad things in my 25 years as an agent, I don’t want to say I’m used to it, but that’s kind of the job I am there to do,” says FBI explosives expert, Thomas Mohnal.

Seventeen years ago when the planes hit the twin towers on September 11^th, he received orders to get to New York City as soon as possible. As Mohnal sat in traffic that morning on Interstate 395, the unthinkable happened, another plane crashed, this time into the Pentagon.

“I’m parallel with the Pentagon in stopped traffic and I watched the plane crash. I was the first one to call into FBI headquarters and notify them that a plane just hit the Pentagon,” he recalls. The series of events made the Prince William County resident the first FBI agent on the scene, as well as one of the first, first responders.

“The flames and the fire burning was tremendous. I’ve done a lot of testing with explosive and gas-enhanced explosives, but I can’t even describe to you how big the fireball was when the plane hit,” he vividly remembers. “It pretty much encompassed the majority of the Pentagon.”

For next month and a half, Mohnal spent his days working recovery and investigating the Pentagon scene.

“The jet fuel that was burning, plastics, metals, and the debris were all airborne. It was bad,” he recalls.

As the years have passed, the survivors and first responders of that day have had to deal with another challenging reminder of our nation’s tragedy. According to the World Trade Center Health Program, more than 87,000 Americans have been diagnosed with severe health conditions, including cancer, in the wake of the attacks. Thomas Mohnal is one of them.

A miracle found within a ruptured appendicitis

It started nearly two years ago. In August 2016, the now 61-year-old came to the hospital with a ruptured appendix. In the course of his care, doctors had ordered a CT scan to assess the situation. It was there Mohnal learned he was dealing with more than just appendicitis.

“Sentara’s radiologist actually noticed at the very top of the CT scan, I mean the very top! Luckily, he was able to see it. He noticed three tumors and said it was consistent with lymphoma,” explains Mohnal.

The husband and father went from requiring surgery and consulting with a General Surgeon to meeting with Dr. Farn Chan, a Triple-Board Certified Hematology and Oncology Expert and Chairman of the Cancer Committee for Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center.

“Here I’m expecting a surgery for an appendix, and I was a little worried about the rupture, but now they’re telling me, ‘You also have lymphoma.’ It was a lot, but they did it in such a way that they calmed me, saying we caught it early,” remembers Mohnal.

Personalized Medicine for fighting lymphoma

Before Mohnal knew it, he was on a regimen to attack his tumors and combat his cancer. His tumors, which ranged in size from 1 ¼ to 1 ¾ inches, didn’t respond to the first combination of drugs, that’s when Dr. Chan made the decision to change his therapy to “R-CHOP,” commonly used in the treatment of lymphoma.

“I lost all my hair. It was pretty bad, but the good thing about it was all was the nurses. Dr. Kandahari and the oncology nurse, Sarah, at Cancer & Blood Specialists of NOVA, are just perfect. They make the treatment very smooth and calming. Everyone is so professional and so knowledgeable,” says Mohnal.

Even though it wasn’t always the easiest of roads, Mohnal prides himself with never having missed a day of work while on his treatments.

“I can’t say enough good things about my care,” says Mohnal pausing, thinking about the what-ifs. “The way I’m looking at it, the radiologist who caught these tumors gave me a jump on my treatment. I never had symptoms, my physical and blood work were clear, if these tumors weren’t spotted when they were, they could have grown and spread to other organs, the treatment would’ve been a lot harsher, I can tell you that.”

Today Mohnal is feeling good. He’s living with his cancer and on a maintenance regimen which involves three-hour infusions, every eight weeks. His recent scans show one of his tumors is gone and the other two have decreased in size. 

“It’s the best news I’ve gotten in two years, I’ll tell ya that!” says Mohnal smiling. “Both Dr. Chan and Dr. Kandahari were thrilled to death. That was the best they were expecting, the results we’re getting are amazing.”

While Mohnal doesn’t know what the future holds, he doesn’t second-guess the past. When asked if he would change his actions from all those years ago, if he knew what it would mean for his health, his answer is simple.

“Never crossed my mind. I never thought about it. But once again, I was an FBI agent and that’s kind of what we do. Would I do it again? Absolutely,” he said.

September is Lymphoma Awareness Month. Lymphoma is a cancer of a part of the immune system, also called the lymphatic system. Lymphoma may develop in many parts of the body, including the lymph nodes, spleen, bone marrow, blood or other organs. There are two main types of lymphoma: Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). It’s estimated nearly 75,000 people are diagnosed with NHL every year. In NHL, white blood cells, called T cells or B cells, become abnormal. There are more than 61 types of NHL.

To learn more about lymphoma, visit the Lymphoma Research Foundation website lymphoma.org

Sentara Healthcare is the first system in Virginia to be accredited as an Integrated Network Cancer Program by the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer, meaning connections to a network of doctors, researchers, and groundbreaking clinical expertise. To learn more or find the provider that’s right for you, call 1-800-Sentara or visit Sentara.com/cancer.