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Ailing county official glad to be alive, glad to be a Gator fan

He had cancer surgery and got a heart device, and through it all, he didn't miss a game.

By DAN DEWITT
Published January 10, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - Three months ago, Bob DeWitt said, his doctors had just about given up hope.

"I was pretty close to the Grim Reaper," said DeWitt, a longtime Brooksville real estate agent and county planning and zoning commissioner. "Very close as a matter of fact."

An exhausting operation for colon cancer two months earlier had crippled his congenitally weak heart. His recent cancer diagnosis had disqualified him for a heart transplant.

His only option, the 67-year-old said, was a revolutionary device, the Heartmate II, which was surgically installed Oct. 13 - a Friday - to help his heart pump blood.

"It was absolutely a last-ditch hope," said his wife, real estate broker Mary Ann DeWitt.

Because of this, Bob DeWitt said, he was able to enjoy the holidays with his family and to see his beloved University of Florida Gators win the national championship Monday night.

And though he is still weak, he said, he is feeling well enough that he hopes to return to his place behind the dais at next month's meeting.

"That's what I'm planning on doing," said DeWitt, who has been unable to attend a meeting since August.

His commission seat has been filled by alternates Lisa Hammond and Mary Preston. Commissioner Anthony Palmieri took over DeWitt's job as chairman before being voted to fill the position for 2007 at Monday's meeting.

Vice Chairman Robert Widmar praised the work of Hammond and Preston, but said, "of course, we've missed Bob very much."

"He and his wife, Mary Ann, have been here - I won't say since Noah landed the ark - but a long time," Widmar said. "They know the county and the people here, and he brings a lot to the table."

The Heartmate II is a small pump that supplements the action of the heart, according to the Web site of its manufacturer, Thoratec Corp. Only 120 are in use worldwide, Mary Ann DeWitt said, and her husband's was first installed at Tampa General Hospital.

It wouldn't have happened, she said, if her husband's condition had not been so desperate and if she, her family and their friends had not been so persistent.

The 61/2-hour cancer surgery in August was successful, she said, but left him exhausted, and medication given to him afterwards disrupted his heartbeat.

Though he came home briefly after several weeks of hospitalization, his heart soon began to fail, and he was rushed to Brooksville Regional Hospital in early October.

"One male nurse there kept saying, 'He's in God's hands now, and you just need to prepare yourself and your family,' " she said. "And I wasn't ready to let that happen."

A doctor had told the family about the Heartmate II earlier and, after Bob DeWitt was flown by helicopter to Tampa General, they pushed the idea with doctors and enlisted friends in Brooksville to call as well. The hospital agreed, she said, partly because it had no other options to treat him.

"We're very thankful and grateful" for the support of the community," she said. "He got a stack of cards, like 2 feet high."

Throughout his ordeal, Bob DeWitt said, he watched every UF football game. DeWitt, whose son, Barry, played on the team in the 1980s, even converted some of the hospital staffers to the Gator cause, he said.

His hope now, he said, is to continue to regain strength for another year, when he may again be eligible for a heart transplant. Meanwhile, he said, he was basking in a victory almost sweet enough to make him forget the name of a certain previous coach.

"Steve Spurrier?" he joked on Tuesday, "Who's he?"

Dan DeWitt can be reached at dewitt@sptimes.com or 352754-6116.

[Last modified January 10, 2007, 07:25:06]