Dave Vann

Welcome to Dave’s caring bridge site. We want to use this platform to share information about Dave’s current and changing health situation. First of all we appreciate all the care and concern that people have expressed. For those that may not have the background information; Dave went in for a pre-op for a knee replacement in December 2020. As part of the process, they did a chest X-Ray. The radiologist did a phenomenal job and detected something awry on the X-Ray. Long story, short … or short story long …. They did numerous tests and determined Dave had a mass on his anterior mediastinal area. Biopsy was inconclusive. Surgery to remove was done mid February. That pathology exam revealed that Dave had a rare and aggressive cancer. We all know how unique and special he is, and less than 1 in a million get this type of cancer. Another words, they see less than 80 cases a year. For those of you who like the details it is called sarcomatoid thymic carcinoma. The sarcomatoid is the aggressive one and we affectionately call it a fx?!ing fx?!er. He went through six weeks of radiation and chemo that ended mid May. Unfortunately, it was not successful and about 10 days after the treatment stopped he started to go south pretty rapidly. The tumor is growing at an incredible rate and has invaded his chest cavity and is making it extremely difficult for Dave to breath. Fast forward to today. We are currently at Mayo and Dave was admitted to the hospital on Thursday(7-8). We can’t say enough good things about all the staff at Mayo with their brilliant minds and excellent care. If nothing else, we know we are in the right spot and he is in good hands. Yesterday, they blasted him with a very heavy does of chemo to try to stunt the growth while they work with insurance to secure approval for their desired immunotherapy. We know that so many folks want to know what is happening with Dave so we will continue to communicate medical updates. We appreciate all the good vibes, prayers, good thoughts, well wishes and your love and friendship. We are blessed to have so much support from family and friends.

 

Love

The Vann Family