Elizabeth Stinehart

Welcome to the Friends, Family and Supporters of the Stinehart Family,

This site was created to provide information and enlist ways to support the family. Beth’s story begins towards the end of November 2021. She had been experiencing headaches that she thought might be Covid related, however she continued to test negative despite the unexplained reason for her pain. On December 14, 2021, after 2 weeks of a severe migraine with an aura, she finally secured a CT scan for what she anticipated would show a sphenoid sinus infection. She had a history of sinus infections and thought that must be the explanation for her headaches. Unfortunately, the scan revealed 6 tumors in her brain. She was admitted to BayState in Springfield for additional scans (MRI) and consulted with a local neurologist and neurooncologist. Her local providers supported her request to seek a second opinion with MGH (Mass General) and Dana Farber. She was admitted to Mass General Hospital in Boston on Sunday, December 26th. She then had a craniotomy, a biopsy, and a resection. The resection was the removal of a golf-ball sized tumor. They were only able to safely take out 1 of the 6 tumors. After the biopsy was performed, she has been diagnosed with Aggressive Grade IV Glioblastoma Multifocal (GBMIV). Her MGH/DF medical team includes top providers in this field specializing specifically in GBMIV. The physicians have recommended a treatment plan for 6 weeks. She will have radiation and chemotherapy treatment 5 days a week which will be administered through the partnership of MGH/DF and Cooley Dickinson Hospital, which is located at 30 Locust St., Northampton, Ma. The expectation is to shrink the tumors and subsequent surgical intervention. Many prayers for the success of this treatment plan.

Currently, she is feeling well except for being occasionally tired from overdoing it. She is also able to function as much as she wants to, and is walking 3+ miles daily to ensure she gets her physical and mental health outlets. She is positive and organized and ready to manage it as best as she can. This will be a journey for the entire family….Beth, Karl, Erik, Jimmy and Madison. Many people have reached out to the family to offer help. There have been discussions about what assistance would be helpful for the family, and there may be more that you do on your own. Please reach out via this website if you have any other suggestions and we will add it to the posts or schedule. We will be enlisting help to keep this website as up to date and current as possible.

Every one wants to know how they can help! They will need help with travel for her appointments. She is not driving at the present time. The plan is to have her 6 weeks of radiation/chemo appointments on the Planner part of this website. Her treatments begin on Tuesday, January 11th. The treatment is approximately 30 min., and the drive can be anywhere from 45-60 minutes. Karl is scheduled for many but there are still many that will need to be covered. Most of the appointments are scheduled between 1-2 pm. That will give you an idea of what your time line will be if you decide to help drive.

Another way to help is to prepare a meal. There will be a meal plan schedule on the site called Meal train. The plan is to provide meals for the family on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. If you are able to sign up for a meal preparation, please make the meal for 4 people. There are no food allergies, however, seafood would be last on the list for preferences. Italian, Chinese, American, are all top of the list. Beth has always been health conscious and not eaten Red Meat for a very long time, but she has added that to her repertoire aiming to increase her protein intake. Please send your meals in disposable containers. This will save them the hassle of having to figure out who owns what containers. And also please write what you are bringing when you sign up. Every meal will add time and quality to their day for which they are truly grateful for.

This site offers suggestions for many ways in which we can help. It is going to take a few days to get the Planner and Meal Train up and running. Today is January 8th. Please share this site with whomever is interested in helping. Any questions, please text 413-537-5001. This Caring Bridge page was created for the Stinehart Family to keep you informed of health updates, appointment scheduling and meal planning.

With much gratitude for your prayers, and support.