Friends,

Wow. The past 48 hours have been some that I will never forget. Starting chemo will obviously be an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. But a memory that will carry equal weight is the response of each of you to the news of my health struggles. I have been humbled and overwhelmed by the outpouring of support. I am not sure I can put into words the gratitude I have in my heart for each of you taking the time to send your love, encouragement, and prayers. Your words have helped carry me through a week that has been filled with emotions.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

My post on Tuesday was short and sweet so I wanted to give a little more detail about what I am walking through. The type of cancer I have is called Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis. It’s a rare form of cancer that primary effects kids under the age of 2. The scarcity of the disease, especially in adults, allowed the diagnosis to be evasive for 2 plus years. It was finally identified earlier this summer after a doctor pulled a sample of a swollen lymph node. Eventually my search for a specialist led me to Emory where I found one of the few oncologists in the country with experience in this disease. I eventually got an MRI and CT scan to try to understand how much the cancer had spread. Unfortunately, both scans came back with signs of cancer. The MRI showed cancer in my pituitary gland and the CT showed cancer in my chest/lungs, lymph nodes, arms, and thyroid.

LCH is measured not by stages but by number of systems that the cancer is found in. With signs of the cancer in 5 systems, chemo was the best plan moving forward. The plan is to do chemo (Cytarabine) 5 days in a row, once a month, for a year. I will get updated scans every 3 months to track the progression of treatment and we will be able to make modifications if necessary.

I am now 3 days in to my first week of chemo. My body feels strong and I am ever motivated to press on. I am hopeful that the positive response to chemo the first couple of days will remain constant as I move forward in the process. Please continue to pray that the cancer will retreat while my body stands strong. 

With love,
David