Chuck Mandt Bio

During the past 5 years, Chuck Mandt has navigated a difficult pilgrimage through 2 occurrences of throat cancer. Along the way, he identified several spiritual truths that helped him cope with this disease. Chuck learned that cancer is like no other disease. It affects the patient, family, and friends. The disease and treatment can have severe and lasting side effects. Statistically one in four people have cancer. That means if there are 20 people in your extended family 5 of them have cancer (maybe they don’t know it yet). That is true for Chuck. His wife, Ruth is a breast cancer survivor, one of her sisters died of breast cancer and another has been diagnosed with it. Ruth’s brother has Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, her brother-in-law recently died from lung cancer. Chuck’s father had prostate cancer and testicular cancer in his seventies and kidney cancer in his late eighties.
Chuck is from Charleston, WV. He is the son of Charles Mandt and Virginia Nearman and he has one brother Bob who, like Chuck, is an accomplished pianist. Chuck grew up helping in his father’s restaurant and playing piano at his mother’s insistence. His mother was music major in college and played the piano beautifully. Chuck finished college and ROTC by 1964, during this time he paid his college expenses playing the piano with local orchestras. Being raised in a Christian home, he also taught a 5th grade boy’s Sunday school class while in college. Before going off to active duty in the Army, he married his high school sweetheart Ruth Branscome. He served as a platoon leader at Ft Devens MA, a detachment commander in Vietnam, and the reserve center commander in Dover, Delaware. After Vietnam, he went to Florida to get a M.S. in Math at Stetson University. Ruth taught school at Deland Middle and studied graduate physics at Stetson. Chuck played piano in Daytona Beach Resort area on weekends. From there, they went to Delaware where he taught high school and college math for 10 years and worked on his PhD. Ruth was busy making a family as she gave birth to four beautiful children in five years after teaching for 3 years.
In 1977 Chuck had a chance to return to West Virginia and work for IBM. He was in sales, marketing, and management for 15 years before taking an early retirement. He spent the last several years as an independent consultant on large computer based projects and managing sales force automation implementations. During all of this time he has continued to play the piano and keyboards professionally and for his churches. An accomplished keyboard musician he currently plays the synthesizers and piano at First Baptist Church in Douglasville Georgia where he and Ruth have been members since 1990. He has been married to Ruth for almost 40 years. They have 4 children Charlie, Julie, Marc, and Lynn, a daughter-in-law Adrienne Burnett Mandt, 2 granddaughters, Brielle Lynn Mandt and Danielle Paige McGuirt, and a grandson Jacob Charles Mandt. 
August 17th 1999 Chuck began coughing up blood and went to the emergency room where he hemorrhaged and lost several quarts before they were able to stop the bleeding. The ENT on call discovered a 2-inch cancerous tumor that had wrapped around two arteries in his throat. He had been misdiagnosed as suffering with sinus trouble for several months and was scheduled to have sinus surgery in one week. Instead of a sinus problem he now was referred to an oncology surgeon who said the tumor was too large to safely remove and referred him to a chemotherapist. The strategy was to reduce it enough to perform surgery. On 8/30/99, with 20% odds of living, Chuck went to the chemotherapist who prescribed 4 chemo treatments. On Labor Day weekend he started a 96-hour continuous dose of chemo. A Friend in Nashville, Louis Johnston, called and told Chuck to pray specifically for God to remove the tumor and remove the cancer. All of his prayer partners started praying that way.
That weekend Ruth had a dream that revealed a friend, Tom Holt, and her laying hands on Chuck and healing him. Tom was awaken from his sleep the same morning at 2am and God told him to go lay hands on Chuck and that healing would take place. About the same time Chuck had a similar dream. After Labor Day, Tom started calling Ruth saying, "I have to come and see Chuck". Ruth revealed her dream and it was discovered all had the similar dreams. In Chuck’s dream the other person was a neighbor, Ida Simpkins, who was a cancer survivor. Ruth said she couldn't make out who the woman was in her dream and assumed it was she. On 9/12/99 Tom Holt, Ruth, Ida and Ida’s husband, Sam, laid hands on Chuck and he was healed. Chuck immediately praised God and claimed the healing. This was a healing from God following Acts 9:10-16 and not by seeking a faith healer.
On Monday, the ENT was called and told about the healing and asked to examine Chuck’s throat and document the healing. He scoped Chuck’s throat and exclaimed "I have never seen a tumor just melt and disappear; it is gone". He scheduled a CT Scan to verify it. On 9/29/99 Chuck had the CT Scan and left the previous scans from August for the radiologist to compare. The radiologist's report read, "In conclusion there is no measurable tumor present." 
Chuck is living proof that God heals his people today. He knows firsthand that God always answers prayer. Sometimes God says no. Why? Because He is God, He is in control, and He is on a different plane than us. Otherwise He says yes. If yes to healing, then it is either by miracle or by medical process.
In November 2000 a new tumor was discovered. It was the same kind and smaller. While angry with God at first because he thought the miracle cure had been negated, Chuck started to pray specifically for God to remove the tumor and the cancer. God literally answered the prayer with a yes but revealed it would be through the medical process. 
God assembled an amazing medical team. Chuck was to receive 34 radiation and 3 chemotherapy treatments simultaneously. The radiation burnt his throat and neck to a crisp. After 2 chemo treatments, his body was in such bad shape and his blood counts so low that his medical oncologist cancelled the 3rd chemo treatment. By the 4th week, the tumor was gone and he had no other signs of cancer.
Almost immediately after the treatments were over, he ended up in the hospital for 2 weeks with low blood counts, throat pain, dehydrated, and a rash all over his body. During this time, I Thessalonians 5:16 came to his attention. It reads “Be joyful always; pray continually; and give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” You are to thank Him for everything. That means your cancer, your pain, Chuck’s broken wrist that happened while in the hospital, the IV needle stuck in you, and the skin rash. . Through all of this Ruth took care of him along with his 90-year-old bedridden father who was living with them. Chuck’s father lived to see the cancer healed in his son then passed away peacefully in his sleep 5/12/2001. 
The aftereffects of the chemotherapy and radiation can be brutal. Chuck went through hyperbaric chamber treatments to improve his ability to heal. He had to have all his back teeth upper and lower removed as they are deteriorating due to lack of saliva and reduced circulation in the area from radiation. A feeding tube placed in his abdomen was the source of most of his nutrition, as it was difficult to swallow and he got choked easily. Chuck lost about 80 pounds but was stabilized and gained back 5. He had to have rehabilitative therapy to strengthen his throat muscle. Radiation shrunk his epiglottis allowing liquid to get into the lungs easily, which could have had deadly consequences. Many medicines were difficult to take since he had trouble swallowing. The chemotherapy made the blood vessels in his arms very fragile. The high doses of antibiotics he had to take upset the natural balance of the body system and he suffered from a yeast infection for months in his mouth, throat, and intestines.
Today, 3.5 years later, Chuck works 10 hour days and trains for powerlifting with his oldest son Charlie at least 4 days a week. He is 6” 3” and his weight is stable at 210 lbs even with a 95% liquid diet.
Chuck focused on the following spiritual truths to help him through his ordeal. God loves you; He is in total control; and Praise Him in all things. Cancer is a disease with no guarantee of living. Not being saved is a spiritual sickness with a guarantee. If God can heal cancer, He can save you by healing your spiritual sickness. All can be saved; just invite him into your heart.

Chuck Mandt Musical Biography: Piano and Keyboards 


Education: 
WV State University: BS Education 
Stetson University: MS Mathematics 

Musical Study: 
Private study:
Classical: John Staud (WV)
Pop: Jimmy Henderson (WV)
Jazz: Sir Roland Hanna, NYC; Regi Wooten, Nashville.

Member:
Atlanta Federation of Musicians, Local 148-462, American Federation of Musicians
Christian Jazz Artists Network


Musical Experience: (partial) 
Dover (DE) Symphony Orchestra, French Alliance of Delaware, House pianist for WV Governor Jay Rockefeller, and IBM Corporation Recognition Events.

Accompanist behind numerous acts: Anita Bryant, Ray Eberle, Myron Floren, Sandy Merrill (TN), Sooz Thomas (GA), Ray McKinley Glenn Miller Orchestra, Atlanta Pops, and Sammy Ferro (DC)

Drum Clinic pianist: Roy Burns, Joe Morello

Jazz Festivals: Kingfest (Atlanta), 3 WV Jazz Festivals, The Tennessee Jazz & Blues Society, "Jazz on the Lawn Series"

Broadway Shows: Anything Goes

Christian: Staff Pianist for Milton (WV) Baptist, Stamford (CT) Baptist, Normandy Road (MI) Baptist, Shawnee (OH) Missionary Alliance, and currently staff keyboards for First Baptist Church Douglasville (GA).

Recordings: Heart to Heart (Christian), Tropical Breeze (Rhythm and Blues), Live and Alive with Sandy Merrill (Big Band Jazz), Songs of Azar (Solo Piano Gospel Christian), Always Time To Love with Sooz Thomas (Jazz), and Christmas with Etta Oliver (Christian).