CACS - Bob DeGroot Bio

This page is dedicated to members of the CACS who have lost their fight with Carcinoid Cancer. We present this information first as a memorial to the departed member and second in the hope that the information here will be helpful to someone who is researching or fighting our disease. Click a link below to see the memorial bios.
Ted Crump
1939 - 2008

Bob DeGroot
1945 - 2007

Gloria Guadagno
1934 - 2007

Liz Hollenbach
1948 - 2007

Susan Spillman
1959 - 2006

Larry Chinnery
1938 - 2006

Mark Redfern
1956 - 2005

Jennifer Murphy
1960 - 2003

"Coach" Lombardi
1962 - 2003

"Bob" Niblock
1936 - 2003

"Bob" Kurtz
1939 - 2002

"Kay" Shea
1931 - 2002

"Mickey" Moomey
1925 - 2002

"Don" Jones
1953 - 2002

Survivors
Bios of living members

Robert Henry DeGroot
1945 - Sept. 16, 2007
Robert "Bob" Henry Degroot was born in 1945 and died September 16, 2007. He was a devoted and loving husband to his wife and best friend, Carolyn Theisen DeGroot and father of two daughters, , Kimberly Harrell and Nicole Halkyard.

HE graduated from the US Naval Acadamy in 1962 and later worked for IBM. In addition he was president and founder of MAGIC (Maryland Alliance for Greenway Improvement and Conservation), champion for environmental activism and reform.

Bob was a patient with Islet cell cancer, which is a family of Neuroendocrine cancers. He was researching possible treatment options at NIH and decided to participate in a procedure at NIH/NCI called Peripheral Hepatic Perfusion, a fairly aggressive procedure. He underwent the first part of this procedure on July 5th. Afterwards he experienced a lot of complications that arose from this treatment and ultimately caused Bob's death.

Bob had his first PHP (Peripheral Hepatic Perfusion) surgery 5 July at NIH NCI. In this PHP surgery they inserted a catheter into his liver. The catheter that is in the vein has small balloons that will be inflated above and below the veins coming out of the liver so when they are inflated they can direct the chemotherapy only to the liver. Blood collected from this catheter, filtered and returned to the body through another catheter that is put into a large vein either under the collarbone on in the neck. Once the catheters are properly placed, he will be given some heparin, a blood thinner, through one of the catheters to prevent them from forming blood clots during the procedure. The plan was to do this four separate times, about a month apart.

He is survived by his wife and best friend, Carolyn Theisen DeGroot; his mother, Elizabeth Violet Spade; two daughters, Kimberly Harrell and Nicole Halkyard; and four grandchildren.

Memorial Services were held Thursday, September 20 at 10 a.m. in the Unitarian Universalist Church in Bethesda, Maryland. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Bob's name to the Humane Society of Washington, DC. Donations in Bob's name can be made to the attention of Eve Anderson (301 258-3155) of the Washington, DC headquarters of the U.S. Humane Society. They will be combined for use by their General Fund for support of the full array of the Humane Society's mission. The contact info is: Bob DeGroot Memorial Fund Attn: Eve Anderson Humane Society of the U.S. (Tax ID 53-0225390) 2100 L Street, NW Washington, DC 20037 People making donations are asked to provide their name and address to the Humane Society for proper acknowledgement.