Hello Friends & Family,

Today we had an important meeting with Sabina's oncologist. The meeting went as well as it could, given that the purpose of it was to discuss a new chemo treatment we are calling "Plan A."  Now that Sabina has had two recurrences of osteosarcoma tumors in her lungs, it is clear that cancer cells are floating around her body trying to form more lung tumors.

The questions we brought to her oncologist today were: When will she start treatment? How bad will the side effects be? Will treatment interfere with her fun plans for the summer (Camp UKANDU, vacations, etc.)?

But let me back up a couple of steps first.  This "Plan A" is a drug combination that has never been tried on a child in Oregon before. Yes, children in other states have tried it - and with some success at inhibiting tumor growth. This combination of drugs doesn't kill tumors, it inhibits their growth and the idea is that cells in a failed tumor cluster will eventually die off on their own.

Clever guy, Sean, figured out that our oncologist in Houston and our new oncologist in Portland are each experts on these two different drugs, so he introduced the two doctors and voila - a 'trial' plan was made for Sabina that seems promising. (This took some FDA maneuvering by our Portland oncologist - and we are so grateful to him!) All this makes us feel thankful to be on the frontier of cutting edge treatment and glad if it means we've opened the door to other Oregon kiddos who could benefit from this drug combination.

**Special thanks to Cindy van Dijk who put together an incredibly thorough and helpful list of Osteosarcoma trials, drug and treatment options. Cindy's list showed us the trail head to the path we're on now.**

One of the drugs in Plan A is a pill Sabina will take 2x a day at home starting as soon as tomorrow. The other one is an infusion she will take 2x a week (outpatient) for 3 months and then once a week for 6 months. They both carry side effects like flu-like symptoms, rashes, fevers and potentially liver damage...but we anticipate Sabina will tolerate them all right. And (buried the lead) she will not lose her hair!

Sabina will need another chest scan soon to check for nodules. If any spots appear, she can't take the infusion drug until she is tumor free. That would mean another surgery to remove any lung tumors. IF the tumors are found in operable locations. So we are taking all hopes, prayers and wishes for no tumors /or operable tumors.

But best of all, Plan A means Sabina and Charlie can still go to Camp UKANDU and all 4 of us can still go to Paris/Ireland this summer! She can start the pills now and start the infusions after our trip.

To give a snapshot of our life since the last CaringBridge post...May was a helluva month:

On May 4, Sabina went to her first prom.

On May 10 she opened "Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief" and performed all 6 shows in the lead female role, Annabeth through May 18.

On Memorial Day weekend Sabina, her best friend and her mom and I went on an epic road trip together.

On May 31, Sabina was awarded the top award in her high school's theater department for best female lead of the 2023-2024 school year.

Sabina is learning that when you dream big, laugh often and live well, life is wonderful! But she can't do all that alone. She has each and everyone of us -- friends, family and even kind strangers -- whose support is helping her beat the odds. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your care and support for Sabina.

We thank you for bearing with us as we waited for this meeting. We know you've been eager for information about next steps in Sabina's treatment. I hope this update has been informative.

Wishing you wellness,

-Kate