A New Development

I'm writing from the hospital because there has been some misinformation going out about what has developed in my disease and prognosis over this week and I would like to clarify the matter directly.

During the holidays, I began to develop some significant headaches. After coming into the hospital for my regularly scheduled radiation on Monday, I was sent to the ER and given a CAT Scan to try to determine the cause of my headaches. That scan showed signs of metastatic disease in my brain, which means that the uterine cancer I was originally diagnosed with has spread into my head. This, obviously, is very bad news. This isn't a bump in the road. It's a major and very unexpected glitch in my journey. I was so close to finishing radiation and looking forward to remission... and now, yet again, we are realizing just how very aggressive my cancer is. It is rare for uterine cancer to spread beyond the pelvic area and mine has. It is even more rare that it would spread into the brain and mine has. I cannot deny that this is a very serious turn for the worse.

My gynecologic oncologist, Dr. Silver has made it clear that the average oncologist that he could consult to look at my case would determine based on statistics alone that I likely only have a few months to live. HOWEVER, Dr. Silver has been my primary doctor from the beginning of my treatment and does not believe this to be the case. Already, I have faced several obstacles in my diagnosis and treatment that I should not have been able to overcome. Yet, here I stand. Dr. Silver is hopeful that because of my young age and good health we have reason to expect that I will be able to continue on with an aggressive treatment plan.

For now, the plan is for me to continue on to finish pelvic radiation as planned and as of this week, I have begun full head radiation as well. Our goal remains the same... to try to get me into remission. Haiti is now completely out of the picture for me, however, as I cannot take a break in my now-continued radiation treatments.

I greatly appreciate your continued prayers and expressions of love through this difficult time. We serve a great God who still has a purpose and plan in all of this!