Andrew Stolz

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. I thought I would keep our loved ones up-to-date on what's going on in our family and to ask for your prayers. 

We found out fairly recently that Andrew (our #2 son, he is 8 years old) has papillary Thyroid Cancer. It has metastasized to several of his lymph nodes on both sides of his neck. He is essentially asymptomatic; he only has a small lump on his throat that we noticed (we thought it was just his Adam's apple). 

On October 13th, they will surgically remove his entire thyroid (thyroidectomy) and all of the lymph nodes in his neck that they can see are cancerous. This is known as a Lymphadenectomy or neck dissection, and it is going to be a tough surgery. He will also need some mild post-op radiation therapy (radioactive iodine) in a couple months in order to make sure that all the cells are eliminated. Overall, his prognosis is good. Thyroid cancer is considered to be one of the most treatable types. Of course there are always possible problems with things like this, but we remain hopeful and optimistic. 

Thyroid cancer is extremely rare for his age. While this is the news we were already expecting to hear, from the preliminary ultra sound images and scans the last few weeks, it is still a lot to handle. We are trying to wrap our minds around what the future will hold. Thank for your continued prayers in this difficult time. 

Andrew is doing alright with the news. He is in good spirits, and we are thankful that this is a trial we will hopefully be able to overcome. We all had a good cry at the hospital when we found out. Our family is very hopeful, and we have been talking to Andrew about being strong by talking about how he is feeling, even if that means crying.  We are praying constantly, and trying to stay positive about the situation.  We thank God for giving us a trial that can be overcome and an opportunity to draw closer to Him. Andrew is such a bright, cheerful, and fun-loving kid; we know he will triumph over this. 

Visiting Children's Hospital has, for us, really put things in perspective yet again. We've been there before, and there are so many families there that are suffering immensely; many of whom do not have the possibility of a positive outcome like we do. 

Thank you for visiting.  We will try to post updates on this site fairly frequently.  If you are interested, and want to be in the loop, you can check here for the latest.


Feel free to leave comments.  We will read them to Andrew during his recovery.