After cancer reoccurrence college administrator speaks out to help others

Derry Ebert has learned much from his cancer journey. Now he wants to encourage others.

By TJ Banes, IU Health Senior Journalist, tfender1@iuhealth.org

It was never easy.

On his worst day, Derry Ebert was in the hospital for two weeks. He was on oxygen, running a fever, couldn’t eat, passed out, and was confined to his bed.

“I never expected it to get that bad. I had gone through my first two treatments fairly well and other than having cancer, I was in good physical shape,” said Ebert, 52. He remains active playing softball and lifting weights.

It was the day after Thanksgiving 2016 when Ebert found a lump in his right armpit. He visited his family doctor, who completed an exam and blood draw. It was decided that Ebert should keep an eye on the lump and return in two weeks.

“There were no markers in my blood to indicate anything out of the ordinary. At the end of the two weeks, the lump had grown to the size of a tennis ball, and he found a second lump - about the size of a ping pong ball in his left groin. An ultrasound followed and then a biopsy. Ebert received a diagnosis on Dec. 30, 2016 - Stage IV Large B Cell Follicular Lymphoma. The rare non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a slow growing cancer that appears in the lymph nodes, bone marrow and other organs.

At the time Ebert was living in Kansas City and began chemotherapy on Jan. 13, 2017, at a hospital closer to his home. He has spent his career working in higher education and moved to Indiana four years ago to work at the Kokomo campus of Ivy Tech Community College. He serves as the Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Services.

“They told me from the beginning that with this diagnosis, it wasn’t if my cancer returned, it would be when,” said Ebert. “I was told that only 15 percent of the patients had it return in less than five years and mine returned in 14 months.”

That was August of 2018. He completed three cycles of treatment in Florida, his new home and place of employment. His five-year checkup was in Nebraska. It was February 2024, and he was diagnosed a third time. By now, Ebert was living in Indiana and became acquainted with IU Health Simon Cancer Center and Dr. Rita Assi, who specializes in hematology/oncology.

In April, Ebert underwent CAR-T, a gene therapy that uses custom-made cells to attack a patient’s own specific cancer. CAR-T cell therapy allows doctors to isolate T-lymphocyte cells – the body’s cells that fight infections and are active in immune response. The T cells are then engineered to express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) that targets a protein on a patient’s cancer cells, attaches to them and eventually kills them.

“Dr. Assi made us feel comfortable. She explained that she is part of the clinical trials for the CAR-T at another hospital in Houston. It was new and we were nervous, but she was familiar with it, and she knew my other doctor, so it eased our anxiety,” said Ebert.

On a recent six-month checkup with Dr. Assi, Ebert talked about sharing his story with others - to give them hope.

Married to Brenda, Ebert is the father to two adult daughters, who are both planning weddings. He wants to enjoy the life to come, and he also understands how scary it is to learn of a cancer diagnosis - not just for him but for his family.

“We’ve always treated this as an annoyance rather than letting it completely change our lives,” said Ebert, who continued to work on his doctoral program and dissertation while he was in the hospital. He’s received encouraging texts and emails from many people - some he doesn’t even know.

“So many people have helped me that I want to help others and give them hope.”