From: Brewer, Damon
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2014 7:21 AM
To: …
The verdict is in. They diagnosed me with ‘Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma‘. It’s now a football sizes tumor in the back of my right leg. Did you know each cancer has a color designation for ribbons and such? i.e. Breast Cancer is pink, Brain Cancer is grey, Colon Cancer is dark blue. More info here. Guess my color. ;)
Other than the consistent pain in my leg I still feel well. I have no limitations on my activity, but I am limited by my pain tolerance during or after the activity.
Treatment: The next steps are a schedule of radiation and chemo. My next appointment is Monday when they’ll do a detailed scan of my leg. They’ll use this to set a baseline and program the machine which will phaser me. Followed soon after is a cocktail of chemotherapy and then two weeks of daily radiation treatment. This is repeated a few times and then I’m evaluated for an operations to physically remove the tumor.
Prognosis: If they removed the tumor today it would essentially destroy my leg. They would remove most of the muscle from my upper leg, which would render it nearly useless. The radiation and chemo is an effort to ‘shink’ the tumor so I save as much muscle as possible. In the best circumstance my leg will never return to 100%.
Goals: I have two goals. My daughter gets married October 4, 2014. Goal #1 is to walk, unaided, down the aisle with her. Goal #2 is to run in another Warrior Dash next spring. Of course there are several hurdles between here and there, but I think I am ready for a fresh challenge.
You may share this with whomever you wish, but I do ask that everyone respect the sensitive nature of the situation. I wish to not be the center of attention and to continue with work as normally as possible. Tyson is my second family and this a truly a refuge for me. I will continue to share as things progress.
I apologize to anyone I missed. Let me know if anyone wants to be added/removed to this distribution list
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