My husband has endured six rounds of chemotherapy consisting of Carbo, Taxol and Avastin from the beginning he was told he was a stage four and if he was able to gain “stability” from chemotherapy that, in itself is a milestone. Well, the tumor didn’t just stay “stable” (meaning that it did not shrink or grow during chemotherapy) but it turned into scar tissue! When he was first diagnosed the primary tumor was a whopping 6cm. Now it’s dead!
We believe so much of this success comes from the Avastin. This drug is a “tumor-starving therapy”. In order to survive, grow, or spread, tumors need a continuous supply of oxygen and nutrients, which they get by creating their own network of blood vessels. This process is called angiogenesis (an’-gee-o-jen’-i-sis). Avastin is thought to work by blocking a protein released by both normal cells and cancer cells that helps cause angiogenesis. This protein is called VEGF and is produced throughout the life of the tumor. By controlling the growth of blood vessels, Avastin can starve your cancer of the nutrients and oxygen it needs to grow and spread.
Brandon will be staying on Avastin as a “maintenance” therapy for an indefinite amount of time. He will receive it once every three weeks intravenously and the process will last about 30 minutes. This is so minuscule compared to the cards our family was initially dealt this past summer. Keep fighting the good fight, my husband is proof that this beast is beatable!
If our family would have been asked a year ago, what month represented lung cancer awareness, we would not have been able to tell you. Well, it’s November and that will forever be engraved in our young family’s minds. Three months ago my 29yr old husband was being treated for what our family doctor thought was pneumonia. Two weeks later, the cough persisted and a ct scan was performed. We fell to our knees in despair upon the results. A 6cm mass had been found in Brandon’s left lung as well as malignant fluid surrounding it. Not only were we told that Brandon had lung cancer but that he was in stage four of this disease. Within one day, our lives were forever changed.
The moment after we were told the diagnosis, I mentally removed myself from the conversation and visualized myself standing on a stage looking at a room full of people listening as I told of our journey and how we made it. Now I know this was such an odd time to be practicing visualization techniques but, to this day I know that it wasn’t me doing this, it was God showing us the way!
Of course, after I returned to our, oh, so very scary reality, I went home and puked my guts out, I asked God why and how and what about my two babies? They need their daddy. I don’t know how to teach my six year old son Eathen how to throw a football and I am definitely not great camping material. Did God forget about us?
After two good, solid weeks of utter grief, I snapped out of it and went into action. I “googled” all sorts of concoctions, trying to locate survivors. I thought there must be some out there. There were, just not as many as I had hoped to find. That is when realized my calling.
This was never the path we would have chosen for our family, but this is where we are and this is what we have been called to do. At some point, I made a silent plea with God. I begged him to let me keep Brandon. Let him be “living” proof that there is always hope when determination exists. I asked him to allow us to pay this experience forward and continue to help others in creating awareness and striving for the cure!
So far, Brandon has completed five chemotherapy treatments consisting of Carboplatin, Avastin and Taxol. He has showed a wonderful response thus far. After his third treatment, a pet/ct scan was performed which revealed that the mass had shrunk 30% and the level of cancer activity in his body has decreased by 50%. We will continue to fight until we have declared victory against this disease!
