Mance Thurston

In January Mance found a small lump in his neck near a lymph node... after visiting his family Dr. they decided to do a fine needle biopsy of the node, which came back as cancerous. Next was a CAT Scan... then after visiting the oncology ear & throat surgeon following the biopsy, they determined it was some form of Squamous Cell Carcinoma.... which doesn't likely start in the lymph node.  They did a scope of his nose/throat - where they found a small tumor at the very back of this tongue area... down his throat.  This was followed by a PET scan... where the results were a rainbow of lights - wish it was this pretty. It was nothing he had felt up to this point, was in no pain (other than the needle biopsy), and has never smoked a day in his life... so unfortunately it had time to spread to his lymph node area before we caught it.   Following the scope, they scheduled a full biopsy of the back of this throat where they actually ended up taking 14_ biopsy plugs... so then a couple weeks of not being able to eat very easily for that to start healing.  Mance was then officially diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma in his throat, that metastasized into a few of his lymph nodes on both sides of his neck.  Because of the spread to the lymph nodes they have him as stage 3 cancer.  MRI came next - and of everything that seemed to be the most uncomfortable up to this point - but Mance sucked it up and got through it... realizing he is more claustrophobic than he thought!  Next step CT SIM mask followed by daily radiation treatments (M-F) for 7 weeks and 3 chemo treatments.  There are some serious side effects expected from such a concentrated treatment schedule, and fingers crossed that it is better than expected.


Big hopes and positive support for a full recovery and ridding this crap from his body.

We will try to post progress & updates to keep family & friends up to date.  We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.