BEL AIR, Md. — Marc Hickel thought his battle with prostate cancer was over after surgery and radiation treatment. But five years later, scarring from the radiation created new, debilitating problems that left him struggling to function.
"It was completely debilitating. I mean, I couldn't even function," Hickel said.
The scarring inside his bladder and where his prostate had been caused severe bleeding in his urine and crippling bladder spasms that disrupted his daily life.
Hickel discusses his road to recovery
"Really crippling bladder spasms where I couldn't get any kind of relief. I had to take a hot bath, wait around for it to go away, take over the counter meds for it. A lot of bleeding with blood clots," Hickel said.
After consulting with a urologist, doctors determined Hickel was a candidate for hyperbaric oxygen treatment, or HBOT. The therapy involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber, which increases oxygen levels in the blood and tissues to promote healing.
The complications had forced Hickel to step away from his car hobby, where he was building a 1967 Corvette replica kit car through his company, Corvette Reed Rods.
"I started making what they call in the business a kit car, which is 1967 Corvette replica and my company's Corvette Reed Rods. So I started this project up and when I started going through this, I made up molds to make this whole car, and when I started having these spasms and the bleeding," Hickel said.
Nurses Nicole Rabenau and Jennifer Donato from UM Upper Chesapeake Health have watched hyperbaric oxygen treatment evolve beyond its traditional use for diabetic care.
"What it does is force oxygen, not just in your red blood cells, but in your plasma as well, and eventually, your body starts to go into a state called VEGF, vasoendothelial growth factor, where you produce new blood vessels. So areas that were lacking in circulation now are growing their new blood vessels, which will improve the healing," Rabenau said.
Hickel's treatment required 40 hours total, with sessions lasting two hours each, five days a week. He passed the time watching shows on his screen while under the watchful care of his nurses.
"You develop a nice relationship with patients because you're seeing him five days a week, so there's a lot of just friendly chatter and you get to know things about him. We liked a lot of the same shows, so as he was watching, you know, you could kind of peek up there and see what he was doing, but he was a great first patient, so it was awesome. I'm enjoying this therapy normally I'm in the wound care department, so this has been a nice added benefit for our patients," Donato said.
Months later, Hickel is back on his feet and enjoying his car hobby again, free from the pain and complications that once left him debilitated.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
