Jake Bildstein

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. Thank you for visiting.

In the shower on the morning of May 24th, Jake realized that something was wrong. After a couple quick doctors’ appointments, Jake was told he had a tumor in his right testicle.  A local urologist performed surgery to remove that testicle on May 26th.  Since then, all of the tests showed the tumor was cancer, and had metastasized through parts of his lymphatic system. His official diagnosis and staging is Non-Seminoma Stage 2B.

The pathology report shows that there are two types of cancer cells in his tumors, which are a 50/50 mix of Embryonal cells and Teratoma cells. Teratoma cells do not respond well to chemotherapy, so surgery to remove the remaining cysts/tumors is the best option for treatment of those cells. So far we have discovered a cyst between his Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) and Aorta, the body’s main blood vessels, that presents as a Teratoma metastases. Additionally, he has cystic/tumor-like spots in the lymph nodes in his lower abdomen region and some unknown spots in his lungs. 

The local urologist referred us to MD Anderson, a leading cancer institute in Houston, Texas. We have a surgeon and an oncologist team developing a treatment plan. We are hoping for a surgery date to remove the tumors/cysts/affected lymph nodes during the week of July 10-14. The surgery Jake will have is called “retropertinoneal lymph node dissection,” and it will last 7-9 hours. The operation area is from his rib cage down to his groin. The surgeon will go through his abdomen and move his organs to reach the lymph nodes/tumors/cysts, and the cyst between his IVC and Aorta. Following a 4-6 week recovery period, Jake will then undergo 3 rounds of chemotherapy to treat the spots in his lungs as well as make sure the rest of the cancer cells are gone.  Each round will be 3 weeks in length, so he will undergo chemotherapy treatments for a total of 9 weeks.  

Jake has withdrawn from Texas A&M University for the upcoming Fall 2017 semester, and he will undergo all of his treatments at MD Anderson. Warren will be back and forth from Houston to the DFW area/Atlanta. Abbey will remain in Abilene, Texas, finishing her final year at Abilene Christian University, and Sarah will be working full-time in Oklahoma .

The best news we have received is that testicular cancer has the highest cure/remission rate at 97-98%. We trust and have confidence in the team we have at MD Anderson and know God has his hand in Jake’s journey. He is a BIG God, and we are in constant prayer asking for healing and a smooth surgery, recovery and treatment process.

We will try to update this site as much as possible. We ask for you and your family to join us in prayer, and we look forward to sharing any words of encouragement you wish to share with Jake.