The past couple of episodes of Chicago Fire have been focused on the cancer diagnosis of Cindy Herrmann (Robyn Coffin), wife of Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg.)
In the beginning of season 11, Episode 11, A Guy I Used to Know, Herrmann was concerned to find his wife Cindy still in bed while their children Kenny James (John William Adams III), Annabelle (Amanda Calabrese), and Max (Keller Kennedy) were running amok throughout the house. Herrmann insisted on making a doctor’s appointment and asked Dr. Marcel (Dominic Rains) at Chicago Med for a referral.
We pick up later in the episode with the couple, together at the office of Doctor Gallagher (Lydia Berger Gray), who joins them with Cindy’s x-rays. Gallagher got right to business and began going over the scans with the couple. She showed the Herrmanns a cloudy area in her lungs and said she couldn’t be sure what they were seeing without running more tests and a CAT scan.
Near the end of the episode, we caught up with the Herrmanns and Dr. Gallagher where she dropped the bombshell that Cindy has lung cancer and told them that they would need to schedule surgery as soon as possible.
The story continues in Episode 12 How Does it End, when Boden (Eamonn Walker) confronts Herrmann when he noticed he wasn’t acting like himself and Herrmann revealed that Cindy’s surgery is for cancer. Boden told Herrmann that he would be there for them both.
In a touching scene at the Herrmann house, the patriarch called all the children together at the dinner table to explain to them what was happening. The children were all worried and the youngest one, Luke (Lucas Von Kampen) climbed into his mother’s arms.
At Chicago Med, Doctor Elliman (Jeff Parker) explained exactly what they were looking for and hoped he would be able to remove the cancer.
As she is being wheeled into the OR, Cindy quickly went over a checklist of parenting tasks for Herrmann, who assured her that he has it all covered. The two shared a tender moment before she went through the last set of doors.
Herrmann was joined by Boden in the waiting room, who surprised him, “I told you I’d be here for you if you need anything,” Boden says to Herrmann when he arrived. Hermann responds, “I’ve been going out of my mind that last three hours, just the stress of it.”
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In the end of the episode, Doctor Elliman came out to talk to Herrmann, “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get the margins clean,” the doctor says. “She made it through the surgery well, but we weren’t able to get all the cancer out. We removed what we could, but we found some in the lymph nodes, too, which means we have a fight ahead of us. Next step: chemotherapy and radiation.”
In an emotional moment Herrmann tells the doctor that he and Cindy promised their kids she’d be alright. To this, the doctor responded, “We got a great team here. And we’re ‘gonna do everything we can to help Cindy in this fight. Let’s stay hopeful.”
This leaves fans wondering whether Cindy is going to make it through her battle.
Chicago Fire’s co-showrunner Andrea Newman spoke to NBC Insider about the road ahead:
“It is going to be a rough road for the whole Herrmann family as Cindy battles lung cancer. There’s a tough fight ahead, with no short cuts or easy solutions, but the Herrmann family, and the 51 family, will come together to help in all sorts of ways as the situation progresses.”
Fans immediately took to social media to share their dismay, and anger, over Cindy’s cancer diagnosis:
We should expect to see Cindy’s story-line continue in Episode 13 The Man of the Moment, which will air Wednesday, February 8 at 8PM CST on NBC and will stream the next day on the Peacock app.
Chicago Fire is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, in association with Wolf Entertainment. Filmed at Cinespace Chicago Film Studio.
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