Pittsburgh SWAT member who responded to 2018 synagogue shooting receives cancer-survivor award
John Henson is no stranger to facing obstacles.
He's a narcotics detective with Pittsburgh police and part of the SWAT team that responded to the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in 2018.
A lot has led up to Henson receiving the James Connor Courage Award. The award was named in honor of cancer survivor and former University of Pittsburgh and Steelers running-back James Connor. It's given at the Dr. Stanley M. Marks Blood Cancer Research Fund's annual dinner to support cancer research at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.
"Each year, we give this award out to a patient who certainly showed a lot of courage in their fight against the blood cancer," said Marks, chairman of the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.
Marks says picking Henson this year was the obvious choice: "Certainly, he showed tremendous courage throughout his battle."
"I enjoy doing what I do, and I am just one out of many," Henson said.
In 2020, Henson faced his biggest challenge yet: a diagnosis of a fast-growing blood cancer. He learned he had Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the most common form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
"When they told me that I had a large, massive center in my chest, my first thought was how my daughter was going to feel. How was my daughter going to be able to handle the death of her father?" he said.
Henson says fighting cancer was harder than he could ever relay. After two failed treatments, he started a clinical trial that ultimately saved his life.
"He had a tremendous response with what's called CAR T cells," Marks said. "And it's now two years, and he's still in remission and doing great without CAR T cells."
Henson credits his family, friends and his Lutheran faith for getting him through some of his darkest times, both mentally and physically.
Henson said, "I was not positive throughout. I struggled a lot. But through my teammates, through friendship, through my wife and daughter, I pushed through a lot more than I ever expected to handle."
As Henson humbly accepted his award on Friday, he is back on the job and cancer free. “No matter what the circumstances are, no matter what the outcome is fight, fight till the end,” he said.
As Henson was going through treatment, his police brotherhood rallied, helping his family with groceries, dinner, grass cutting, you name it. But most importantly, they visited often and made sure he knew he was not alone.