Mark Puccio

Dear Family and Friends,As many of you already know, Mark was recently diagnosed with a rare form of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma which is a cancerous tumor to the rear of the right nasal cavity where it meets the throat. It also involves some lymph nodes in the neck. The good news is that all of the many doctors who have examined Mark and consulted with us believe the condition is curable through an aggressive program of radiation and chemotherapy over the next 8-14 weeks.  Thank you all for your prayers and good wishes over the past few weeks. There have been many prayers for wisdom, guidance, peace, healing and more. We want you to know that God is listening and showing up in the unbelievable ways doors to information and decisions are opening. More so, He surrounds us with His peace that gives us calm and hope through the many questions and concerns that arise. The one thing we know for certain is that we are in God's hands and He has a greater purpose in all of this. We are already seeing amazing and beautiful ways God is showing His care for us in this. Please continue to keep us in your prayers and thoughts-they're working!!After much research, consultation and prayer, we believe that Northwestern Memorial's Lurie Cancer Center is the best place for his treatment. They specialize in head and neck Oncology and have the most expertise with this type of cancer in our area, including a clinical trial currently underway. We will be back there Thursday, June 11th, for a planning meeting and then expect treatments to start June 22 with daily Radiation and Chemo 1x/week for 7 weeks. They anticipate weeks 4-7 to be some of the most difficult as it may get difficult to eat and swallow due to the radiation.  We greatly appreciate your support as we go through this and we have already been overwhelmed with the love and encouragement from our friends and family. Mark is feeling strong, physically pretty well, has a great positive attitude and is even continuing to workout. He does, however, need to gain some immediate weight, so feel free to join him for a meal to encourage "the packing on of weight"!!   We will continue to give you updates on Mark's progress as important milestones are reached. This site will be the most efficient way for us to communicate with everyone who is interested in being updated. Please feel free to use this site to share an encouraging thought or scripture, etc. (and feel free to still call…we love hearing from you all). We would also appreciate your grace as a returned call, text or e-mail may be delayed.  We so appreciate all the offers and acts of help and support you have graciously extended to us in the past 4 weeks. Please know we are extremely grateful for your love and concern.  Love to you all,Mark, Julie and Mary Kaelin