Dude...
No words.
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Dude...
No words.
sorry to hear about your niece. I have a one year old daughter and would be ultimately ruined forever (if I didn't kill myself or become a drug addict alcoholic). Even though I'm a staunch atheist these are the times I'd wish I had faith.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dantheman
My daughter just turned 1, can't imagine what you're going through Dan, sick kids are the worst.
The worst pain is not being able to take it from them and deal with it yourself.
Mrs and I will say a prayer for you.
Uncle just got diagnosed with sarcoma in his quad. 8 weeks of radiation then surgery to take any leftovers out. Feel they caught it fairly early.
Worked with him when I was a teenager, learned about about landscaping and excavation, tremendous man and a great dad.
Fuck Cancer.
So sorry Dan. Tears in my eyes.
Damn .... fucking sucks.
Thanks everyone. Of course there's always a chance of a miracle happening and we will hold out hope until the end, but there's no denying the reality that virtually no one survives stage 4 melanoma. She was born just a few months after our own daughter was stillborn at full term, and she's always held an extra special place in my heart because of that. We spend a lot of time with her family so she always felt like the daughter I never had.
This isn't entirely unexpected, unfortunately. She was born with a large mass on the back of her neck that was eventually diagnosed as an atypical nodular melanocytic proliferation. Getting that diagnosis took 6+ months and a cross-country effort since no one had ever seen anything like it before, and they way I understand it that's really just a fancy medical term for "we don't really know what the fuck this is." It was stable for about 18 months, then started growing and she went through several surgeries to remove it. They tested it extensively after removal and genetic tests showed several markers that were consistent with melanoma, but the cells themselves did not appear malignant. Thus, she's had MRIs every 6 months her whole life. Her last MRI was negative, but when she went in again last week they saw something concerning and followed up with a CT scan. The CT showed nodules all over her lungs.
She is otherwise a perfectly healthy happy little girl. Fortunately, she's in good hands. She's had a team of top docs at the U's Primary Children's Medical Center her whole life, and my SIL's sister's husband is a geneticist at Stanford.
Dan, so so sorry. Something so insidious attacking something so innocent. Fuck.
I'm sorry DTM, that's awful. At the very least, the field of melanoma treatment has advanced amazingly since even the recent past when we lost plakespear. Hoping for the best for her.
This thread fucking sucks. Fuck cancer. No words of comfort that feel like they have any meaning.
Considering I work I surgical oncology.. I let my karma be my work not my tongue
Thank you all for your kind thoughts and words. Our little niece is SO innocent and has already been through the ringer in her three short years of living.
As Dan said, she's almost like a daughter to us. I spend A LOT of time with their three girls and I can't imagine life without her.
I do have hope, faith and I know miracles do happen, but this is just ugly and heavy right now. I hope I can take some of the burden off my sister and help in any way possible.
So very sad, fuck cancer
We had high hopes that an experimental immunotherapy drug (Nivolumab) was going to help Ruby. But, a follow-up PET scan Tuesday after two months of treatment showed that her 40+ tumors have grown and some new ones have appeared. Outlook is bad, very bad. There is simply nothing left to try. Thankfully the Nivo treatment had no real side effects so she wasn't subjected to any needless suffering. From the outside she still appears to be a healthy happy 3 y.o. We don't know how long that will last, but probably not very long.
There's a fun run/bike parade fundraiser happening this Saturday, June 11 at Butler Middle School if any Utards are interested in showing support. Besides the run and bike parade there will be a bunch of fun activities for kids, it should be a great time.
https://www.facebook.com/RallyRuby/
http://www.active.com/cottonwood-hei...6-T1-PL7-L1120
Fuck, I'm so sorry.
Fuck. That sucks, DTM.
Bump for the Ruby Rally tomorrow.
Fuck Im sorry.
An old friend's 5 year old daughter just got diagnosed with leukemia.
Fuck cancer
Wish I could be there.
Fuckin' cancer. It's bullshit.
Damn. I'm sorry to hear about everyone's health challenges but the little kids, man that's tough. So innocent and so much potential ahead of them. DTM/AC your niece looks just like my own daughter at that age. Anything that we can do to support from afar?
It's too late to sign up as a "Virtual Runner" on the active.com link, but you can donate to their GoFundMe page (https://www.gofundme.com/RallyRuby) if you want to make a monetary donation. It also has the address of a charity that will match funds 20%. Alternatively, Make-A-Wish is also going to do something for them (was going to be a trip to DisneyWorld in early October, but they can't risk waiting that long), and Millie's Princess Foundation is helping them out, so you could donate to either of those.Quote:
Originally Posted by smitchell333
It still doesn't feel real yet since she still acts and looks totally normal :(
I'm so sorry Dan, this is every families worst nightmare.
It's just not right.
Best friend's mom was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Of course, it would be in the middle of the pancreas and involve the celiac artery. Surgeon's will attempt Appleby procedure at the end of the month, which sounds like if it is even possible is her only option other than continued long term chemo. She's undergone chemo the last year with little to no effect and has basically said no more. The cancer hasn't grown or spread. They won't even know if the Appleby is possible until they actually start the surgery and see what is going on with her arteries and veins to see if the resectioning of the celiac artery is an option. At least she's at the best place possible for this kind of shit, Pancreatic Cancer Research Center at John Hopkins. This totally sucks.
College buddies 8 y/o came down with a bad flu earlier this month, docs sent him home, got worse. Blood tests showed elevated white blood count and a bone marrow test confirmed leukemia. His son was gone within a week. Hug your loved ones, be strong folks.
Holy shit that's rough
I hope your friend is OK snapt. That's a dark and horrible place to be.
Haven't talked to him in a while, just know via FB. Can't imagine, especially since his kids are his life. Can't imagine how it is on his older brother as well.
Omg man, that is super rough. I have kids and now have a tear in my eye for your friend. I couldn't even imagine. May your friend and his wife find the strength to make it through such dark times.
Apparently my niece said this to my SIL:
"If the medicine doesn't work will I die? I don't want to die. I want to stay here with you"
Fuck. Me.
fuck.
My brain seriously doesnt have the capacity to synthesize shit like that, Dan. It keeps coming back with extreme sadness and an error message.
Ugh. That's as heavy as it gets.
Oh god that's just devastating.
X2. No words, be strong Dan.Quote:
Originally Posted by commonlaw
Ah shit man. Loss for words, just sadness. Sorry man.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dantheman
So, so, sorry to hear Dtm. I don't have any kids of my own, but reading that and thinking about it being possible to happen to my friend's 3 year old daughter makes me want to cry. Kids don't deserve that shit.
FUCK CANCER!
Thanks all. I was really down about the situation Saturday after the rally (which was awesome, probably a few hundred people attended and a shit ton of money was raised), but then bucked up and decided I was going to keep my chin up no matter what as long as she's still alive. Then I read that...ugh.
Jesus Dan. That's like the worst thing ever. So sorry.
Working where I do, I sit in front of a computer mining data all day but things like this remind me that a lot of the data I stare at corresponds to people going through shit because of cancer. Yeah, we've made great strides in the past few years and will make a lot more but when you pull a report and you realize that a Yes in the "Retired" column means the patient died and then you realize a lot of the Dates of Birth are within the last 10 years that makes shit real. Serves as good motivation to not fuck around on the internet too much too.
Anyway, if you care to pledge, divegirl is riding in the Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center Obliteride for my companies team (Adaptive Biotechnologies). You can pledge to support her ride at http://getinvolved.fhcrc.org/site/TR...nal&fr_id=1510
Adaptive was founded out of research funded by a private grant like the money in this ride supports. The NIH denied the grant because they thought it wasn't possible to use genetic sequencing to monitor the human adaptive immune system. Fred Hutch said fuck the NIH and funded the grant privately and made it happen.
Found out recently son of good college friend has some sort of lymphoma 7 y/o. I understand it is getting worse, not better. Very Sad.
Fuck. Reading this shit about little kids is just brutal. I was working over the weekend, or I would've showed up to the rally, dtm.
I gave my kiddo an extra hug at bed time tonight. Don't know what else to do.
My sister lived until 53. That seemed young to me. I thought I was getting over it, but reading Dan's stories and others here brings it back like it was yesterday.
http://nyskiblog.com/i-love-my-little-sister/