Mark Buckingham Mark Buckingham

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I wanted to update you all about the recent health issues our dad Mark has been experiencing.  Back in 2011 he was having some stroke like symptoms and was treated at Harborview. They released him and placed him on an anti-seizure medication.  Eight months later he was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer and treated it with radiation and hormone treatment.  Fast forward to March 2017, when he began to have stroke like symptoms again which began to show their presence in speech, reading and writing.  He has been in and out of Harborview having many MRIs, spinal taps and other related tests to see what was happening.  When all tests came back negative they decided to preform a brain biopsy on May 19th.  They confirmed that he has something called Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy in which amyloid proteins build up in the walls of the blood vessels and weaken them making him prone to brain bleeds.  His type of CAA is rare and they don't know much about it as it is autoimmune in nature.  While little is known about his form of CAA they have reached out to the one expert at Harvard who reviewed all our dad's records and is involved in his treatment planning.  There is a chance he will develop some Alzheimer's type of symptoms in the future. He returned  to Harborview on Friday and they found that since the brain biopsy the week prior he had had three mini strokes.  He was admitted to the hospital and put on IV steroids to try to reduce the inflammation in his brain for three days and has now returned home.  He does have some working memory loss but otherwise is his usual self. 

At the same time he was experiencing his neurological issues he was also following up with his radiologist regarding his prostate cancer.  We received the news that his prostate cancer had spread to his bones (right ribs and low right back by his spinal cord) and is now incurable but treatable stage 4 cancer.  He has some small masses in his pancreas which are believed to be small ductal tumors that are prostate related and slow growing in nature. The oncologist has requested that he have the brain issue resolved before they attempt to address and remove the mass.  Thank you for your care and support of our dad.