INTRODUCTION

My name is John, and I have brain cancer. It’s called glioblastoma forme type IV, or GBM IV. That is the name of the cancer in my head. It is a malignant primary brain cancer. The doctors call it ‘primary’ because it originates in the cells of the brain itself. It’s basically a defect in the way the brain cells replicate. At some point in the last several months something triggered my cells to begin replicating in a different way. They did so for a while, creating a golf-ball sized tumor of tissue and a lot of fluid. That fluid and a large part of the tumor has been removed, but the remaining brain cells continue to replicate erratically. The type IV in the name of the cancer is an indicator of the aggressiveness and destructiveness of the cancer. Before all of you rush off and find info about this on Wikipedia, a fair warning is in order. My oncologist has warned me that there is a LOT of negative misinformation about this type cancer on the web, so take what you see with a grain of salt. This is a similar type cancer to what Sen. Kennedy had and that pastor Matt Chandler currently has so it has gotten some media attention, but the truth is there is not much that is really known about it. It is a relatively rare brain cancer (affecting about 2000 new people every year), and there is a lot of new good information surfacing about treatments and so on all the time. So try to refrain from too much digging, and I’ll promise to shoot you straight as much as I can. No doubt, without knowing the LORD the prognosis would not be very good. Most statistics for survival with this type cancer measure in ‘weeks’ or ‘months’ not ‘years’ or ‘decades’. But we know that God heals, and is in control, and we long for His will, whatever that is. Make no mistake, I am praying and hoping (and working and treating and living) for healing; but whatever I have left, whatever we all have left, we long for His will, whatever that is.

Because the cancer is really a defect in the way my cells generate there is really no scientific cure. Science can not alter my DNA. Our best bet is to try and stop the chain reaction that is already occurring and kill any cancer cells that have already been created. The surgery I had in early February removed a very good amount of the tumor in my brain. My doctors tell me that microscopic imaging shows that the tumor is like a mold in bread, that even when the primary green part of the mold is pulled, the tentacles you don’t see have still spread throughout the rest of the bread. So now, the oncologist and I must go back and get those tentacles out of the bread. Primarily that will be thru chemotherapy and radiation. I am told that traditional cancer chemo/radia is difficult to do in the brain. The doctor refers to what is called a ‘blood-brain barrier’ that our body has built into it to protect our brains for toxins. This barrier makes it very difficult for traditional chemo to be effective in the brain. Anyway, long story short, the chemo/radiation treatments that I will start next week are not like normal IV drip chemo/radia treatments for this reason. I can only see this as a blessing. I basically take an oral medication that helps illuminate the cancer cells in my brain, and then go to the radiologist and he uses a gamma knife to kill just those cells. I do this every day, and will continue to do so for the next who knows how long. The hope is to kill all the cancer cells and stop the chain reaction they are in making new cancer cells.

All in all my oncologist seems very optimistic for the future. He says I have a few things going for me. One, I have had a very successful recision of the primary tumor. In other words, the neurosurgeon did a good job of getting out the most of the tumor he could without cutting too much functioning brain tissue, so there is not as much left to clean up. Second, I am young and in relatively good health. The doctor says that being diagnost for the first time with this under the age of 50 is a very good indicator of future prognosis. The third factor I have in my favor the doctor says is the particular way my cancer cells seem to replicate. He took the additional steps when he scanned my tumor to analysis their replication. He says they are of a particular kind that has responded well to some clinical trials that he is involved with.

So that’s it. That’s what I know so far. From here it is one day at a time, do what the doctor says, stay constant in prayer and hope for the best. Thank you one and all, more to come.

John