Tom Ferenz Tom Ferenz

First post: Feb 26, 2016 Latest post: Jan 1, 2020
What's happened.
Monday, February 22nd was a shock. Tom was diagnosed with a malignant glioblastoma brain tumor. It came out of nowhere and all of us were stunned by the news. On Wednesday, February 24th Tom had surgery to remove some of the tumor. Surgery was in a pretty tricky part of the brain that involves making meaning and memory and the optic nerve. He came home on Friday the 26th - pretty much a prayer miracle. Now our long journey begins as we are hoping to find successful treatments that can halt the tumor growth. We've created this blog to keep friends and family updated. Leave a a little note as often if you'd like. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement during this time when it matters most.

A description of the tumor.
The Diagnosis is Glioblastoma multiformeGlioblastomas (glioblastoma multiforme) are highly malignant tumors that constitute approximately half of all gliomas and one-quarter of intracranial tumors in adults. They occur most frequently in the middle aged and elderly. They may present with seizures, focal neurologic deficits such as speech disturbance, weakness and visual loss, or signs or symptoms of increased intracranial pressure such as headache and mental slowing. They often appear as ring contrast enhancing masses on MRI scans. Unfortunately, at that time of discovery, most have extensive infiltration far from the contrast enhancing solid tumor. Nonetheless, the initial treatment of often surgical with an effort to remove this focal solid tumor. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy are used in an effort to forestall the spread of microscopically infiltrative tumor and the return of a tumor mass. Despite current best therapies, these tumors are often life threatening within a year of diagnosis. Stanford Brain Tumor Center (https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-conditions/brain-and-nerves/brain-tumor/types/glioblastoma.html)

CaringBridge is a nonprofit social network dedicated to helping family and friends communicate with and support loved ones during a health journey. Learn more about CaringBridge.

To interact with Tom’s website, sign in or register today.

By registering with CaringBridge, you will join over 300,000 people a day who are supporting friends and family members.

Sign In Or Register
SVG_Icons_Back_To_Top
Top