Michael Hillestad

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.
As many of you know my husband Mike has been ill with ringing in his ear, migraines, eye & face pain since sept....  on Nov 9th they informed us he had a mass in his head that involved 2 lymph nodes in his neck... after much testing they determined it is “Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma” a rare cancer that is sometimes linked to the Epstein Barr virus, which is the case with Mike.  Because of its location “ Meckel’s Cave ( for u medical folks) they can’t surgically remove it. They would have to remove 8 facial and cranial bones! So on Monday he will start Chemo and then radiation and possibly more Chemo after that... however the good news ( if there can b good news w Cancer?) is that they feel this is curative! This will b a long ( till mar/April) and arduous journey for Mike but he will make it thru this bump in the road as I like to call it! I am working on a Caring Bridge site to keep friends and family informed on his progress...although the cancer is rare in the US it is not unfamiliar to our Mayo team between ENT, Nuerosurgery, medical and radiological oncology... they have seen plenty! We are so fortunate to live near this great Medical facility.... we feel that we are in good hands w them and w Gods help! So many prayers were answered yesterday... and we will need many more to come! Thank u for all the love and support! Angie and Mike Hillestad😘