My older brother was first diagnosed with cancer when he was 17, and had it surgically removed from a spot on his arm (he had a melanoma, EXTREMELY rare in people his age). He went into remission for 2 years, whereupon a spot was discovered in his lung. He took an experimental oral chemotherapy cocktail (thalidomide and some other one, forgive me for my poor memory). It had fantastic results, and 2 months after treatment began the tumor shrunk 50%. Well, during a recent checkup, his CT scan revealed 3 brain tumors, and his chest film showed the tumor had begun growing again.
He’s scheduled to go in for gamma-knife radiation next Wednesday, and then is going to begin a bout of biochemotherapy.
I know in light of recent events people are praying for things on a much larger scale, but if possible, I ask you to spare a moment and pray for my brother.
His name is Allan, and he’ll be only 21 years old in November.
Thank you.
Hang in there, my little brother underwent open heart surgery when he was 5yrs old, before it was as common place as it is now.
The doctors expected him to only live for only a couple years after that, now he is 16 and waiting to get his drivers license.
He has had some trouble and worry spots along the way, but his family, friends stayed close and prayed. Thats all we can do, trust in God and let him do the rest.
My prayers are with you and Allan. I trust the doctors to do everything in their power to fix your brother up and how could something with as cool a name as “gama knife” not work? (Hopeful and prayerful )
My thoughts and best wishes are with you and Allan, DLD. I know this is a scary time for you. I wish I had words that would comfort and reassure you. If you haven’t already, you might want to check out some online resources for cancer support, where there are other people going through the same thing you are and can encourage and inspire you or just be there to listen when you think no one else will understand. This site seems like a pretty good place to start.
Also, in case you didn’t know about it, The Straight Dope has a team that is working towards finding a cure for cancer. We use our computers to test drug molecules against known cancer proteins and then upload the results to the Univerity of Oxford’s cancer research center. I welcome you to come join our team. You can download the program here. Who knows, you may just test a drug that ends up being the one that cures your brother’s cancer - wouldn’t that be cool?!
My heartfelt wishes that your brother has a full recovery.
as soon as i saw the title and your name, i thought : “oh no, his brother,” i remember that you mentioned him in another thread a while back. i had hoped that things had improved. i’m sorry to hear that is not the case. prayers on the way.
I pray for strength for you and your family during this terrible time. The things that pull us together are the things that hurt the most. To your brother, I pray for strength, hope and a truck load of positive energy to help him through this.
Keep us updated.
)