A Fighter On and Off the Ice: Dirk’s Journey to Remission

Dirk Fleischman is a husband and father, a retired family and sports dentist, and a former semi-pro hockey player. And now he is a cancer survivor too. 

Dirk, 70, had always been healthy and athletic, playing not just hockey but also basketball and golf. But in January 2024, he began feeling short of breath and waking up in the middle of the night with his heart racing. He said his heart rate would rise from 68 beats per minute to 120 while he was sleeping. Worried, he went to his primary care doctor, who examined him and ordered bloodwork.

When the bloodwork results came back Dirk’s doctor called to give him the shocking news: he had leukemia. He recommended Dirk go to Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital. 

He went and was immediately admitted. Further bloodwork there indicated Dirk had acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) B-cell, an aggressive type of leukemia that’s more common in adolescents and young adults. At 68 years old, Dirk was stunned. 

He began treatment by the hematology and oncology team under the direction of Yehuda Galili, MD, and Chieh-Lin Fu, MD. He spent 30 days in the hospital during the first phase of treatment, which first included rituximab, a high-risk targeted immunotherapy drug, and then the beginning of chemotherapy treatments. 

After he was discharged, Dirk continued chemotherapy monthly, checking into the hospital for five days each month to undergo the treatment. Altogether he had eight cycles of chemotherapy. 

Dirk with his care team the day he rang the bell. (Photo courtesy: Dirk Fleischman)

“It was brutal, but I toughed it out,” he says of the treatment. There were side effects and complications, but Dirk made it through with the support of the Cleveland Clinic staff and his wife, Lorrie. “I can’t explain to anyone who hasn’t gone through it what it was like.”

He finished treatment about six months later, in August 2024. He is in remission and in a maintenance program, called POMP, in which he goes to the hospital one day each month for 30 months for a chemotherapy infusion, takes medication at home and has regular blood tests and bone marrow biopsies. He has developed pneumonia a few times during the maintenance program and had to be hospitalized but recovered with treatment at Cleveland Clinic.

“Thanks to my wife and to the great staff at Cleveland Clinic, they got me healthy again,” Dirk says. He credits his wife, Lorrie, with being his greatest source of support, along with their daughters Haley and Amanda, and their close friends who helped them get through this difficult time. 

Dirk with his wife and his new grandchild. (Photos courtesy: Dirk Fleischman)

He will be finished with his POMP maintenance program in July. He is feeling good and is looking forward to getting back to exercise and a “new normal” as he stays in remission.

“If it wasn’t for the fabulous care that I got from Dr. Galili and the great staff at Cleveland Clinic, I don’t know what I would do,” Dirk says. “The hospital is fabulous and I have nothing but great kudos for them.”