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 | | Proud Cancer Survivor |
My nephew was a fighter. He remains a soldier, even after his chemotherapy regimen which, in conjunction with his own willpower, saved his life. Andrew Culveyhouse, 15, was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma in early 2003. Ewing’s Sarcoma is a rare bone cancer often found in children around the age of puberty. His right humerus was the site of a cancerous growth that would have to be treated through a plan involving constant clinical care, chemotherapy, radiation treatments, and bone surgery.
The rest of my family prayed for Andrew, while I relied on my confidence in his own will to survive, and a bit of science and technology to pull him through. He was quite lucky to be born into such an era where the medical community now has enough hope to pull children through such a demoralizing affliction. Unfortunately, cancerous growth is indiscriminate, whether it be the 55-and-older age bracket or adolescents who dream about the lives ahead of them. Twenty years ago, saving Andrew would not have been possible, and for that, the Culveyhouses are grateful, considering our bi-generational cancer risk.
Andrew paid frequent visits to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, Indiana. There he received the compassion and perseverance of physicians determined to give him another shot at a long, fulfilling life. Because the cancer resided in his right humerus, he had to minimize motion of his arm, thereby compensating with his left. From the sounds of it, I now have an ambidextrous nephew! The last surgery involved bone reconstruction by harvesting portions of one of his fibula (whose common name is the shin bone). The fibula is a largely expendable stretch of bone that comes in very handy when performing reconstructive surgery like this. Surgeons at Riley were able to use this tissue and secure it with a system of steel rods. Besides these surgeries and learning to write with a different hand, it took 18 months of chemotherapy, radiation treatments, and TLC to eradicate his cancerous growth. But in the end, his treatment at Riley and at home was a complete success!
Just last week, Andrew broke the still fragile humerus below the steel reinforcements. Perhaps a break like this was inevitable, since the entire cancer regimen weakened Andrew’s pituitary gland and other hormone centers responsible for bone growth. Luckily, it happened relatively close to a hospital, and the pain was minimal. This accident didn’t require a special trip to Riley Hospital as my family had expected, so this must be a fairly common occurrence. I could see why physicians would not elect to divulge this probability, perhaps due to the stress and worry that it would cause the already concerned mothers and grandmothers!
The general attitude toward cancer should not be that of fear or resentment. From my years of researching longevity, I can report an interesting phenomenon in cancer cells that will soon benefit humanity. In our body, cells divide on a regular schedule, and nearly all of this human tissue can only divide a “pre-programmed” number of times, which is the precursor to what we know as aging. The few types of cells that can divide indefinitely are – you guessed it – CANCER! Although this certainly wasn’t reinforcing to the medical community in the 50’s and 60’s while scrambling for an effective treatment, we can now view this characteristic of cancer cells with awe. By studying cancer cells, many of which have an indefinite lifespan, we will eventually use this insight to understand human aging, and perhaps use this knowledge to counteract aging and promote extreme longevity in the future.
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Re: Culveyhouse Cancer Survivor Breaks Arm
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by anonymous |
posted March 9th, 2005 around 06:46 AM
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my cousin liddy had ewing's sarcoma. there is a foundation that my uncle (her dad) and their family have set up, a lot of focused on people wth ewing's and creating connections, sharing data, etc.
i realize you posted this 3 months ago; i just happened upon it today (i live in sf btw). if you want, etc. drop me an e-mail, ok?
mike here.
dadanation@earthlnk.net
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