Round 1 Begin

Aloha friends-
Just wanted to give you an update. I met with my doctor yesterday at Stanford and apparently, i am still sick. At any rate they discussed the treatment with me in detail. I will be admitted today, for approximately one month. I will begin with a transfusion today, and will have many of them throughout. I will have a fairly "rigorous" chemo routine which will help target the bad cells. There is a good possibility I will have a Bone Marrow Transplant in the near future as well, my siblings will be tested to check for a match. After the month, I will continue coming in for chemo for another 7 months on a heavy dose of the treatment. From there they will continue with a monthly dose of chemo that is for maintenance, this will be for approximately 18 months. There will also be some radiation to my brain (i guess that blows any chance of attending classes at Stanford), to help treat the cancer and hopefully prevent its transition into my brain and spine. I feel with all of these things like I am in good hands. There is a good chance 90 % that it will remiss. The tricky part is if it returns at any time in the first few years, my chance of beating it again, is well, not great. But lets be honest, my odds of getting this were not high right? My odds of having back surgery were not good, and guess what, had that too. If there is one thing that can be said, I do not ever fit into the statistics.
So may i just say thank you. The emails, calls, and support have been such a great help. Thank you for your prayers, tears, and smiles. I know that in the next while they will continue to be needed and welcomed. May the Lord Bless you each in all the things you need in your life. I pray that you will feel the peace that I have been able too and that through this, and life, we all can learn and love.
Always,
Chad
PS- Please send pics if you have em, new, old, us, you, scenery, whatever, I love em!

Diagnosis

So to begin with i hope that you are well. I have been in hawaii now since the beginning of august. I came to run an adventure camp and then begin school. the camp was smashing and really a great chance to see hawaii. school has been quite fun and really fulfilling. i even became the BYU Hawaii Sports Massage Therapist.
However since being in hawaii it turns out i have become quite ill. I went to the doctor a few times in the past 8 weeks with what i thought was a sinus infection, and cold. After some anti biotics and over the counter attempts to feel better, i found no relief.
Last week i had some labs done at the hospital and found that i am considerably more sick than i had initially thought. My body is suffering from a white blood cell problem. With more testing it was confirmed and i was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.
This is a treatable form of cancer that attacks the blood cells and deals with blood cell mutations. The good news is that there is treatment for this. I will fly to Stanford Medical and within the next week begin an aggressive form of chemotherapy. the regiment will consist of a 6-8 month treatment of 21 day cycles. The chemical they are using has a good prognosis and i feel confident that i will overcome this obstacle.
I want you my friends to know a few things. First I am so grateful to each of you. I am so blessed to be surrounded by loved ones especially you. As each of you know we have all had our personal struggles in which our friendship has been forged. I have been through so much with each of you as you have been through things with me. This particular one is for me, but i feel as though it will give me an opportunity to really just focus on the beautiful gifts of life that i do have, my friends family and my relationship with the Savior. I hope that as you read this you can know of my love for each of you and my hope for the future. This sickness is a bit of a beast, however it has one of the highest remission rates, it just takes some serious medical attention.
I will be in touch as best i can and feel free to call or email. There are some plusses for instance- I will be able to have visitors over the next 8 months and good, i will need them. They dont exactly hand out donuts in hospitals, and you know the importance of donuts in my case, i just need em. anyway, my spirits are high, i feel as though the heavens have opened in my life and given me a new peace that has been greatly desired.
I hope that all of you are well in what you are doing. I am so proud to call each of you friend, and know that through this process, life will only become more beautiful, and of course, more worth living. May God Bless each of you as he has blessed me in this time of struggle.


The following is a forward describing in more detail what will happen.
Family,

I spoke with Chad and his Honolulu oncologist again tonight about his acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), and have some more specific news for everyone. He will be flying to California this week to be with Margo and Roger, and to start chemotherapy at a nearby hospital at Stanford. He will undergo 8 cycles of chemotherapy (1 cycle = 4 weeks, about 2 weeks of which is in the hospital). So, 8 months of chemotherapy, in and out of the hospital depending on how he does. The medications he will be getting are chemotherapy ("hyper-CVAD") plus Rituxan, an expensive yet effective medicine that specifically targets the lymphocyte cancer cells. He joked with me tonight, "Scott, it took you 12 years to accumulate a quarter million dollars of debt, and I'm gonna do it in 6 months!" The oncologist said a bone marrow transplant at Stanford or UCSF would be a second option if his cancer fails to go into remission with this regimen.

And, some more accurate prognostic .. This is what the oncologist told Chad, and it corresponds with the studies I have read:

1. Chance his leukemia will go into "remission" (meaning cancer goes away for the meantime, does NOT equate with cure) after 8 months of chemo = >90%.

2. Five-year survival rate (meaning, of all patients who receive this therapy, what percentage are alive in 5 years, i.e. loosely analogous to "cure rate") = around 50%. This number was in studies with adults ages 18-60, so personally I suspect that Chad's youth will give him somewhat of a better survival beyond that number. He also has siblings who could give bone marrow if needed in the future (if they "match"), which adds to his survival as well.

3. Once in California, he will be getting a "permacath" port placed under the skin on his chest for ease of delivering chemotherapy. He will also be getting a similar port placed through his skull to deliver methotrexate (a type of chemotherapy) directly to the cerebrospinal fluid to prevent brain/spinal cord involvement of the leukemia.


my address now will be with my mom, in the bay area, near stanford.
email me for the address if you need it

C is for Chad not, Cancer. - its gonna have to be stronger than me, and i dont see that, being a possibility