Happy Day! Just now received a call from the Burzynski Clinic in Houston, TX that Kassidy's case was accepted for the personalized treatment therapy and that the doctor wants to get her approved through the FDA for the clinical trial, antineoplaston therapy, as well. Yeah! This news come very welcomed especially since this morning we heard from Dr. Jallo, from John Hopkins, one of the most renowned brain stem specialists in the world and he said unfortunately he cannot operate on Kassidy, that he would like to wait 3 months and wait till it grows. Ugh! Really...... Waiting means worse symptoms that could include seizures, more headaches and who knows what else. Also heard from Dr. Somen Khatua at MD Anderson saying they would like to do a spinal tap to make sure the tumor cells that are located at the top of her spine are not cancerous, but his tumor board is very busy that he cannot get to her case just yet. Double ugh!
Again, we feel radiation and chemo therapy are not an option. Radiation causes burns on the scalp, damages the good tissue along with the bad, can cause hearing problems or even swelling of the brain; Often swelling of the brain causes fluid build up which in turn a shunt is needed to relieve pressure and also causes neurological damages. To reduce the swelling they administer high doses of steroids which in itself causes some pretty severe side effects. Chemo therapy would take a year or more, sabotaging her immune systems and according to some of the moms I've been speaking to, nerve damage. All in all, a very hard way to live! Quality of life is important to us for Kassidy. We would like to give her the chance to achieve her goals and dreams without being disabled.
Our appointment has been set for June 28 at the clinic in Houston and if we have been able to raise the $30,000 by then, she can start treatment 2 to 5 days after. We will be trying to get our insurance to cover some of it, but according to them it will be very hard because the treatment is not FDA approved. So again if anyone wants to lead a part of Kassidy's army by helping in any way to raise these funds, please contact us: ryanandmass@aol.com
Meanwhile I thank you all for you love and support!
1 comment:
Any luck on the bike ride or home run derby? I'll be asking around here too...
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