When Steven Evans came to Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital in Palos Heights for treatment of a tumor in his lungs, he had an unusual question.
“Will he be able to sing after surgery? That’s not a common question. We don’t encounter too many amazing singers,” shared Dr. Justin Karush, surgical director of the Canning Thoracic Institute at Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital. “That can be difficult to answer in that moment.”
Fortunately, with the help of a new process that allows for more targeted, minimally invasive surgery, that answer turned out to be yes, which the 70-year-old proved during a follow-up appointment.
“Once he recovered, even though we had to remove his entire lower lobe, he serenaded everybody,” Karush said. “It was one of the most touching experiences as a physician to hear him sing after the surgery.”
Evans’ wife of 18 years, Alicia Evans, recalled the moment her husband had the chance to sing to the doctor and “show his beautiful, gifted voice.”
“They all came out and watched him, and that was amazing for him to sing the short time after surgery,” she said. “I call that a miracle.”
She said Karush teared up, and nurses and patients came over to listen. “My husband has a very deep baritone voice,” she added. “He has been gifted to sing. He’s got the most angelic voice you ever want to hear. … That’s one of the things that attracted me to him. I compare him to Barry White.”
The song was his late mother’s favorite – “To God Be the Glory for the Things He Has Done,” which was fitting because Steven Evans is a bishop and lead pastor at his own church, Leap of Faith Ministry in Park Forest. He also works as a participant services supervisor for Illinois Youth and Family Services, which offers social services and aims to prevent violence, particularly in Will and Cook counties.
“I’ve been a singer all my life. My brother David Range and I have won awards for our signing. Singing and being a pastor is so important to me,” Steven Evans said, adding that he still sings with his praise team and at funerals.
Earlier this year, the South Chicago Heights resident was the first patient at Northwestern Medicine Palos to have lung surgery incorporating Cytalux, a drug infusion patients get the morning of their surgery.
“This drug attaches to receptors in cancer cells and emits a light that our very fancy cameras can pick up, such that when we’re operating, we can see cancer inside the lung,” Karush said. “This allows us to very precisely plan not only the amount of lung that needs to be removed but the exact location of the lesion with unbelievable precision. It’s a beautiful picture we get to see while we’re operating on tumors inside of lungs that you couldn’t visualize during surgery.”
Evans, who was diagnosed with COPD about nine years earlier, already had undergone a biopsy that showed he had a solid lesion, and Karush wanted to preserve as much lung as possible.
Once the robotic assistive surgery began, Karush realized “a much larger area was lighting up,which was very surprising based on what his preoperative imaging looked like. This dictated the type of lung resection required. It was something we were able to determine at the time of surgery.”
Evans required a lobectomy because the tumor was “significantly larger” than expected. “All that decision-making was decided by this advanced visualization of a tumor inside a lung at the time of surgery,” Karush explained, saying CAT scans and PET scans don’t always tell the whole story. “With Cytalux on board, we could see that all that haziness was lighting up brightly and was, in fact, cancer.”
The new process requires only an infusion of Cytalux and “a camera that can see the spectrum of light that it emits. I am controlling the camera, visualizing what’s going on through it,” Karush said.
Since Evans’ operation, the surgeon has done several others and expects to do a few each month. Right now, it’s used in OB/GYN and thoracic surgeries.
“I assume that broader and broader applications for this will develop in time,” Karush said, adding that the time in the operating room is much faster “because we get to know what we need to do and ensure good margins around the tumor even before the pathologist looks at it.”
Evans said he and his wife did some research to connect with Northwestern Medicine and its minimally invasive procedure after deciding to go a surgical route instead of radiation or chemotherapy. “I didn’t want my chest cracked open. My mother went through bypass twice,” he shared, adding that the surgery “exceeded” his expectations.
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The couple appreciated the patience Karush had in explaining everything, and Evans was surprised by the surgery because he thought it would be more painful than it was.
“When the actual procedure happened, they had me walking the same day. I stayed in the hospital because I was on oxygen,” he said, adding that he went home after five days.
Alicia Evans said she was very impressed with how quickly her husband healed after the 2.5-hour surgery and how well he looked right afterward. “After the surgery, I went up to visit him in his room. I was amazed how he was sitting up, talking, alert. I didn’t expect that. I was looking for wires and tubes. None of that happened.
“He sat up, looked at me. His eyes were bright and he gave me a thumbs-up,” she shared, adding that the only setbacks once he was home was him having to use oxygen for a time and coughing for a few months. “I made him sit down for about two weeks,” she joked.
She had nothing but praise for the medical team. “I just want to give compliments to the doctor, his staff. It was amazing from start to finish,” Alicia Evans said. “From the minute you walk in the door, the staff there made you feel welcoming and kind. I know (his recovery) is due to our faith in God, but I think the staff did a wonderful job.”
Steven Evans agreed. “I feel great. … Taking out the bottom of my lung actually allowed me to get more air into my lungs, so I’m breathing better,” he said. “I can’t say enough about Dr. K and his staff. Every single nurse was extremely professional, extremely courteous, extremely kind. I’ve not had many experiences in hospitals. That was a great one.”
Melinda Moore is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.