Journal entry by Kaylynn Murphy —
On Thursday, May 9th the family received the autopsy of Tim Murphy.
Written on this autopsy was a very detailed explanation of each individual organ. As the family continued to read the autopsy we learned the diagnosis and finally got an answer.
Tim passed away from a cancer called "Invasive mucinous adenocarcinoma." To break that down, it's a cancer that spreads to the healthy tissues in the glands of the lungs that produces mucous secretions. We also learned that this cancer became metastasis and spread to his esophagus. In layman terms, Tim had lung cancer and throat cancer. Followed by kidney failure and ultimately becoming brain dead. (Encephalopathy) The brain damage was due to the multiple organ failures and means he had failure to make any brain functions due to it.
I wanted to rewrite a paragraph from the autopsy report on here that really gave me some understanding of this cancer.
It states:
"Lung cancer is the leading cancer in terms of mortality across the world. Although adenocarcinoma is a common type of lung cancer, mucinous adenocarcinoma is the rarest subtype. Cytology is usually inconspicuous or absent due to which a definitive diagnosis via biopsy is frequently challenging"
So what that says to me is that, Tim was diagnosed with THE rarest form of lung cancer. So rare that a diagnosis is challenging to come across and tissue samples, blood work, and imaging would have not found the answer.
I did a bit of research on this cancer, granted that not much is out there, but I found that chemotherapies have proven to be unsuccessful with this cancer. I've also found that the longest documented case of this cancer says that someone lived the longest with it for only 5 years. The survival rate is very low.
Family believes that Tim was living with this cancer for at least a year. However, we have not confirmed that and plan to do so. If you have questions, feel free to ask. I'm always around, and I love talking about my dad. It's actually all I want to talk about. If I miss a call/text it's usually because I'm taking a break from it. Or needing some time to myself. Thank you again for everyone's love and support. Let's keep Tim Murphy alive with our memories and kind words. Rest in Paradise. We love you!
Written on this autopsy was a very detailed explanation of each individual organ. As the family continued to read the autopsy we learned the diagnosis and finally got an answer.
Tim passed away from a cancer called "Invasive mucinous adenocarcinoma." To break that down, it's a cancer that spreads to the healthy tissues in the glands of the lungs that produces mucous secretions. We also learned that this cancer became metastasis and spread to his esophagus. In layman terms, Tim had lung cancer and throat cancer. Followed by kidney failure and ultimately becoming brain dead. (Encephalopathy) The brain damage was due to the multiple organ failures and means he had failure to make any brain functions due to it.
I wanted to rewrite a paragraph from the autopsy report on here that really gave me some understanding of this cancer.
It states:
"Lung cancer is the leading cancer in terms of mortality across the world. Although adenocarcinoma is a common type of lung cancer, mucinous adenocarcinoma is the rarest subtype. Cytology is usually inconspicuous or absent due to which a definitive diagnosis via biopsy is frequently challenging"
So what that says to me is that, Tim was diagnosed with THE rarest form of lung cancer. So rare that a diagnosis is challenging to come across and tissue samples, blood work, and imaging would have not found the answer.
I did a bit of research on this cancer, granted that not much is out there, but I found that chemotherapies have proven to be unsuccessful with this cancer. I've also found that the longest documented case of this cancer says that someone lived the longest with it for only 5 years. The survival rate is very low.
Family believes that Tim was living with this cancer for at least a year. However, we have not confirmed that and plan to do so. If you have questions, feel free to ask. I'm always around, and I love talking about my dad. It's actually all I want to talk about. If I miss a call/text it's usually because I'm taking a break from it. Or needing some time to myself. Thank you again for everyone's love and support. Let's keep Tim Murphy alive with our memories and kind words. Rest in Paradise. We love you!
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