Nurses cheer on 83-year-old weightlifter under cancer treatment as he keeps on competing

By Lauren Victory

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    CHICAGO, Illinois (WBBM) — National Nurses Week is in progress through Monday, and a trio of Chicago area nurses are owed some appreciation for showing up in a big way for one of their patients.

That patient is Wally Anczerewicz, and he is also a power lifter. The nurses haven’t only been treating him — they’ve been cheering him on as he keeps on competing too.

At 83, Anczerewicz lies down and bench-presses 155 pounds like it’s nothing and calls it his “naptime.” It’s easy to see how he stood out to nurses at Northwestern Medicine St. George Cancer Institute in Orland Park.

“I kind of did a double-take, and I went out to the nurses’ station and was like: ‘Hey guys, this 80-year-old Wally is, you know, taking creatine. He’s a weightlifter,'” said oncology nurse Christie Mandarino.

Anczerewicz, of Palos Heights, puffs in his basement five days a week.

“I body-built for many years, and when I hit 60, I figured out I want to go for strength now,” he said.

That strength got zapped after surgery to remove cancer in part of Anczerewicz’s lung last year. But despite ongoing immunotherapy infusions, Anczerewicz is back on the horse again. Why?

“I want to see how strong I can get — and the trophies,” he said.

Anczerewicz has a lot of trophies and medals, and he loves to win.

“When I took off for quite a while because of my health, I was lucky I could lift 135 pounds,” he said.

Yes, he could only lift a mere 135 pounds — in his weakened condition.

Anczerewicz’s care team has heard all about his weightlifting victories.

“Especially in our outpatient setting, we just get to know the person — and who they are outside of, you know, their diagnosis and their treatment,” Anczerewicz said, “and they become a part of our family.”

So Mandarino and two other nurses at St. George Cancer Institute — Patti Strimel and Megan Lyons — coordinated their off-days to attend one of Anczerewicz’s competitions.

“I was the first one there,” said Strimel, “so when he saw him, he was like, ‘Oh my God!'”

The nurses swapped out their stethoscopes for signs reading, “Way to go, Wally!” and “Anczerewicz strong.”

“I looked, I said, ‘Oh, look at this!” Anczerewicz said.

Anczerewicz said the support of his nurses gave him an extra push to bench more than 180 pounds. With that, an octogenarian in oncology treatment became a state champion.

“It really blew my mind,” said Lyons. “I told everyone about it.”

Anczerewicz was thrilled to see the nurses cheering him on too.

“They were like friends,” he said. “They weren’t my nurses then. They were my friends.”

The nurses have raised the bar, so to speak, for providers everywhere.

Anczerewicz’s weightlifting record is 330 pounds. He doesn’t plan to stop competing — especially since a recent scan shows he is cancer-free.

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