“It was very humbling and scarier than any horror movie,” Michael Lomonaco tells PEOPLE of life before he was treated for AL amyloidosis

NEED TO KNOW

• A 55-year-old man struggled to match his young son’s Air Force fitness requirements, leading to a rare and serious blood disorder diagnosis
• “It was very humbling and scarier than any horror movie,” Michael Lomonaco tells PEOPLE
• The father of three eventually took part in a clinical trial at Ohio State, where his own immune cells were reengineered to attack his AL amyloidosis

A man attempted to match the fitness requirements his young son underwent for the Air Force, but after he noticed some health concerns, he was given a rare and serious blood disorder diagnosis.

Michael Lomonaco first detected something was wrong with his health in March 2024, shortly after his son entered the branch of the United States military.

“I’ve always disliked running, but I wanted to match my son’s basic military training requirements to show my solidarity with him,” Lomonaco, 55, recalls to PEOPLE. “So I started running more, as well as doing more push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups, though those are not required for the Air Force. I just wanted to improve.”

“However, rather than noticing improvements in my running capacity, it was instead getting harder,” he continues. “I kept trying to push myself through the struggle, but my wife and I went for a run in our neighborhood, and I was only able to get to the corner of our block before having to stop with my hands on my knees, gasping for air.”

“She said, ‘This isn’t normal. You need to see a doctor,’ and I knew she was right, so I scheduled an appointment with our primary physician and was referred to a cardiologist too,” adds Lomonaco.

Despite constantly “requesting test after test of all kinds for the rest of the year,” Lomonaco says he never received “any clear diagnosis.” He further explains, “After almost a year with no clear conclusion and a lot of associated expenses, I had given up pursuing a solution other than just ‘manning up’ and pushing harder through my workouts.”

In early 2025, things changed for Lomonaco. “My tax accountant told me that she had just gone through open-heart surgery for a bicuspid aortic valve, and suggested I see her cardiologist for a second opinion,” he says. “After an appointment with her cardiologist, he suspected a blood disease called AL amyloidosis and had me take a couple of additional tests. He also referred me to yet another cardiologist who specialized in heart failure.”

“I thought that was odd because clearly my heart hadn’t failed — I was still standing, after all. But boy, did I have a lot to learn,” adds Lomonaco. “Those additional tests confirmed his suspicions, and I was quickly put on heart failure medication and referred to a nearby oncologist to start chemotherapy.”

AL amyloidosis, according to the Cleveland Clinic, is a rare and severe blood disorder that can affect the heart, kidneys and other parts of the body, and it can lead to organ failure. At one point, it was considered “virtually untreatable,” per the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

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Despite “some reluctance,” Lomonaco opted to undergo six months of chemotherapy from March to September in 2025. “After the completion of the treatment, my biomarkers were much, much lower, but they hadn’t disappeared completely,” Lomonaco says. “I was not in remission.”

At that point, Lomonaco and his oncologist looked at next steps. He tells PEOPLE, “I had read an article about CAR-T looking promising for AL amyloidosis — and had actually asked him about it months before, but it wasn’t approved by the FDA yet, though — so it wasn’t an option for me then.”

“However, now, since I had completed chemo and was not yet in remission, I could be a candidate to participate in the ongoing trial for this medical treatment,” he continues, referring to the clinical testing he took part in at Ohio State, where his own immune cells were reengineered to attack his AL amyloidosis.

“One week later, the biomarkers had dropped to zero. One month later, a bone marrow biopsy confirmed that I was in full remission,” Lomonaco says. “How happy am I? Aside from an occasional follow-up visit, I feel like that challenging chapter of my life can now be closed.”

Currently, Lomonaco is back in good health and continuing to work on his fitness, bench-pressing 225 lbs., running sprint intervals and more.

“At the worst point that this disease had affected me, I had difficulty even walking from my car to my work desk without stopping to catch my breath once, or even twice, along the way. My heart just couldn’t pump enough blood to support my muscles, and there was also fluid suffocating my lungs from the heart failure,” he says. “It was very humbling and scarier than any horror movie.”

“Today, I’m gaining strength and muscle mass again,” continues Lomonaco, though he playfully teases, “My running is still far from great, but so much better than it was two to three years ago.”

“I am striving to eventually run a 5k as a goal,” the quality engineer at GE Aerospace — who, alongside his 21-year-old son, is also a dad to two daughters, ages 17 and 20 — adds.

“I now greatly appreciate every bit of progress: each pound of muscle gained, every repetition added and each additional yard I’m able to run,” says Lomonaco.

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