Welcome -We are using Caring Bridge to keep family and friends updated in one place. *We are not asking for donations- it may be confusing on this site so I wanted to clarify*. Thank you for visiting this site and uplifting Sean! HOW DID THIS SITUATION START FOR SEAN? This all started just before quarantine with a sore left knee.
He tried to do home remedy with Ibuprofen and ice for a couple weeks. Quarantine started mid-March here and without swim practice and baseball conditioning Sean had pent up energy. He went for a 3 mile run which really aggravated the knee.
We had a video visit in April with the Ortho doc, went out for knee xrays and MRI. No structural damage appeared but what appeared to be a dark spot appeared at the top of the knee xray which was the bottom of the femur. It's common to have something like a 'bone birthmark' so it did not seem too worrisome.
He was still limping with minimal activity-just trying to play basketball in the yard and practice pitching trying to get ready for summer ball. The doc set Sean up for a couple Physical Therapy video visits in May.
The PT did not seem to fix it so in June we tried something we normally don't use - a good chiropractor. He had brief relief from some lower back adjustments but the pain kept returning. By this time the long-awaited summer baseball season was starting and he was sitting the bench still because of the knee pain. Now it was the end of June and Sean was tired of waiting for the knee to recover so asked to pitch an inning. His knee buckled this way and that way during the inning and the pain afterward was SO frustrating. So we pressed to get seen by the overloaded Ortho dept (because in-person just had opened up).
The Physician's Assistant that saw him was a blessing because she quickly identified the change in the 'bone birthmark' at the top of the xray. That same day she switched up the MRI order to be a Femur MRI instead of a knee MRI. That same night the lead doc called very concerned. The next morning, July2nd, the Oncology team squeezed us into their schedule to give us the shocking news that it was likely an Osteosarcoma cancer. He had the biopsy done Monday July 6th and received the results July 9th. My Uncle/Godfather is a cancer survivor and has a home near Houston's MD Anderson Cancer Center. We traveled to Texas July 12th for a week of meetings and received the 2nd opinion confirmation. While there we met an amazing, uniquely talented and experienced surgeon. If we can make it work during crazy COVID, we hope to have her do the surgery. U of M is also amazing so he started the chemotherapy there July 21.
Osteosarcomas are known to spread but his has not yet metatisized thank God- at least that we can see on scans. He will do 10 weeks of chemotherapy, one month for surgery to replace the femur bone deteriorated by the cancer, 20 weeks of chemotherapy, a short break for recovery, then Physical Therapy.
So here he goes hopping on this long wild ride to recovery!
Just wanted to ask for your prayer power this week. Sean has his 6-month oncology scan check up this Tuesday. Please pray for news of complete healing & health!
UPDATE ON SEAN… As you know, he is a go-getter so has been very busy.
He is working out, eating healthy, catching up with high school friends, dating a nice girl he met at school, playing on a casual softball league, being a great big brother, working at a summer internship at Ford Direct- Tax Accounting department, took a summer Calculus class, and is ready to resume his school routine 8/28.
At MSU he will start his Junior year and continue in the Honors program and in the Business College pursuing a Finance major and IT minor. He is currently looking for a Consulting Internship for next summer - it’s very competitive so students start planning and networking a year in advance. He’s also involved in clubs and a fraternity SAE. He will be looking for a job on-campus too.
We caution him to not push himself too much but are very proud of his initiative! He continues to be an inspiration by simply being himself.
Your prayers are so helpful for uplifting him and keeping him flying!
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