Finally Sharing the News

Friends and Family,

I have some news I would like to share with you. We had been waiting to get more specifics before we could share with everyone.

A few weeks ago, we found out that my father-in-law, Neil, has Esophageal Cancer. He had been having trouble swallowing food ever since his hospital stay in 2007 with Pneumonia. It was expected that there was scar tissue from the tube he had in his throat while in an induced coma for 18 days. In the past months this problem had been getting worse. He went in for a procedure to have his esophagus stretched, and they ended up finding the cancer.

At first we were told they caught it early, and so we had a very positive outlook.

Unfortunately, as they performed further scans, tests and evaluations, we received the news that he is actually in Stage 4.

Esophageal Cancer is very slow-growing, no one knows how long he may have been developing it. Because of the slow speed of growth he has not experienced any symptoms other than what he thought was caused by his previous hospital stay. We are lucky that he even went in to have this procedure, or we still wouldn't know.

The cancer has gone through all the layers of his esophagus and is affecting at least 12 lymph nodes. There are no surgical options at this point.

We have known about Stage 4 for a couple of weeks but we waited to share the news until we heard what his treatment plan would be. They were still unsure of his severity and if it has reached Stage 4B they would not have even treated him, just made him comfortable.

Thank God we have found out he is Stage 4A and they WILL be treating him. This coming Tuesday he will be beginning Radiation and Chemotherapy treatments.

His first round of treatments will last for 5 weeks. He will have Chemo and Radiation this Tuesday. He will have Radiation every weekday at the same time for 5 weeks straight. There will be a 2nd round of Chemotherapy during the 5th week.

After this initial 5 week course of treatment they will reevaluate and decide what to do next.

With this type of cancer, they haven given him a 15-20% chance of survival. If the treatments do not get the cancer under control, they are saying he would have around 9-14 months to live. Even if he beats this with treatment, they say to expect about a 5 year life span. We are hoping for better of course and we want him to beat the odds, but the family is preparing ourselves in case the worst does happen.

We are grateful we at least have time to prepare, spend time together, and possibly say goodbye. When he had his Pneumonia 3 years ago, it was a sudden shock and there would have been no time for any of this. We are choosing to be grateful for the time we will have in this case. We are preparing for the worst, but hoping for the very best.

Thank you in advance for your sweet comments, your thoughts and your prayers. Right now nothing needs to be done. Within the family we are taking care of anything that is needed such as transportation to treatments, food, and anything else that is needed. We know you are all out there and we will definitely ask if we need any help. The best thing you can do is pray that everything goes as well as it possibly can. Thanks everybody.