In August of 2018, while attending college (about to start his senior year) Michael was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma and began treatment at MD Anderson. His treatment plan included 12 rounds of AVBD Chemo therapy over a 6 month period, followed by 6 weeks of daily radiation. A few months later (in April 2019), after recovering, he got a clean scan and was given the all clear to return to college at UT Dallas and start his senior year. He took the next few months to celebrate, get engaged to his high school sweetheart, and move back to Dallas and get settled in.
Unfortunately during October 2019, Michael started feeling bad again and after his PET scan, MD Anderson confirmed that the cancer was back. Multiple tumors had grown back in his lungs and heart area, and a few in his chest/neck. Michael's oncologist broke the news that he once again had to quit school, move back to Houston and begin a new treatment plan. So now that he is back home in Houston, they were able to do a biopsy and we are waiting on the results to start the treatment. The tentative plan is to do a few rounds of chemo (a much stronger chemo that is administered in-patient over 3 days) so he will be in the hospital for each round. After a few rounds of the new chemo, they will do a PET scan to confirm that it is working and if so they will start the process to collect his stem cells in the hopes that he can receive a stem cell transplant. We don't know anything about the transplant process yet, but we will be meeting with the transplant team soon.
Since this time around things might be a little more detailed and complicated I thought we would create this caring bridge since it will be easier to keep everyone updated. We also thought it would be nice for Michael to have a "diary" of his journey as he once again kicks cancers butt. We are sincerely thankful for the kind words, prayers and love you have all sent our way. We will make updates as his treatment continues.
P.S. if you are prompted to make a donation “to keep sites like Michael’s going” it is to the Caringbridge organization - this isn’t a fundraiser site. Just want to make sure everyone knew.
