Mindy Carde

Mindy is currently inpatient at the Wilmot Cancer Center at Strong memorial Hospital. She is on the 7th floor, room 25.

This is Marc, Mindy's "little" brother. Thank you for visiting our CaringBridge website. This is where we will keep family and friends updated in one place. Please check back regularly for Journal updates (see above) and to continue your  support for Mindy.  We appreciate everything everyone has done and look forward to your stories, jokes and words of hope and encouragement. Again, thank you for visiting.

Obviously, it is challenging to try to manage the volume of calls, messages and visitors in this situation. If you call or text Mindy or me please know that we may not be able to get back to you very quickly. There is a lot going on with her care and we are trying to remain as focused as possible. At the same time please  continue to reach out and remember to check in here for current information on how Mindy is doing as well as where she is and how visiting is being handled (again, see the Journal above).

Finally, please note that Mindy is not a "Facebooker" so your kind words posted there are unlikely to be read by her. I am only slightly better with an average time to accept a friend request somewhere around 18 months. Not a daily thing.

Here is a quick overview of what has happened:

In late October of this year Mindy was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma.  The cancer had already metastasized, spreading to numerous sites in her body.  This is stage 4 of the disease. It is quite common for this type of kidney cancer to go unnoticed because while it is limited to the kidney it is usually asymptomatic. It is typically only after it has spread that it causes issues that allow it to be identified. That was the case for Mindy.

This is not a curable cancer. The objectives of Mindy's treatment are; pain management, mobility and quality/extension of life. The prognosis without treatment was weeks. The prognosis with full treatment that is as effective as possible is one to two years. Radiation is the first phase and that began today (12/7/16). After radiation Mindy will be evaluated to determine if she can tolerate chemotherapy. If so, she will be on a systemic  chemo treatment plan for the duration of her days.

Like you I  find this extremely difficult to fathom. It also makes me very angry and sad beyond words. That said, I am challenging myself and everyone else to try to match Mindy's positive and humorous attitude. Let's make this site a source of good energy to help fuel that attitude! Mindy has named this cancer "Asshole Murphy". Let's see how long we can help her kick his ass!