American Association of Clinical Oncology Conference

Last week was the annual gathering of cancer docs, to discuss the latest breakthroughs, studies, and to mingle and consider where to go now in the study of cancer. These meetings are very important, because as you know, if you are a cancer patient, information doesn't seem to get disseminated very well in the medical community.

There were several breakthroughs announced last week, including a vaccine for breast cancer that might work retroactively, and there are new medications that may be useful for lung cancer patients. One in particular, is an ALK Inhibitor that shows a high response rate in patients with advanced NSCLC harboring a specific gene alteration. A study featured in an ASCO plenary session shows that the majority of patients with advanced adenocarcinoma of the lung with a specific re-arrangement of the ALK gene responded to treatment with the investigational drug crizotinib (PF-02341066), which targets that genetic defect in the cancer cell. An estimated 5 percent of lung cancer patients have this ALK gene alteration.

In the world of esophageal cancer, however, the news was not good. We had hoped earlier this year to have Layne take Erbitux, as we heard it was the latest chemo showing great promise. However, A Phase III trial has found that adding cetuximab (Erbitux) to standard adjuvant (post-surgical) chemotherapy in patients with stage III colon cancer and normal KRAS gene activity does not prolong their lives, and the combination is associated with significantly more side effects. Cetuximab was previously found to improve survival for metastatic colon cancer patients with normal KRAS.

Sometimes the news is not all good, however, without studies, you can't find out what works and what doesn't work. Studies are very important, and the funding for studies is crucial.

For patients, the slow, methodical progress can be maddening. We need solutions yesterday, and most of the ground breaking research is only offering 3-6 more months to patients, not cures.

However, this is how breakthroughs are made. So it is important that patients volunteer for studies, and that we fight for dollars to make more studies a reality. For truly, a cure cannot come soon enough!

The Story of the Ash Tree that Wasn't...

Interesting…this cancer walk is interesting. You never know what is going to happen. God works in the most interesting ways.

First, let us tell you an interesting story. You know, when you have cancer, it is the little things that become so important. You want to fill your life with all the things you love, people, sights, and foods. Well, Layne LOVES cherries. Rainier cherries are his absolute favorite, but they are expensive and grown in Washington state, so we have to wait each year for the farmer’s markets in Oregon to get them. And he loves sitting and eating his cherries.

Nine years ago, when we moved into our home, we put in three trees. Two apple and an ash tree. Last night, I (Betty) was in the back yard, and what did I see? Weird fruit looking things on the tree! So, I tasted it, and it tasted like a cherry. How odd. So, I took it in to show Layne and he said, “That is a cherry!”

I said, well, it came off the ash tree in the back yard! What an amazing thing and a very, very nice blessing. Thank you, Lord!

Then, this morning, we came to Nevada Cancer to start chemo. We assumed the biopsy had verified the PET scan of five spots on the liver, because we had heard nothing. The interesting thing is…and they aren’t sure what it means yet, so no one should get too excited…but the biopsies are clean. No cancer.

Now, it was only the largest spot that was biopsied, but isn’t that amazing? No cancer in the biopsy?

We don’t want to read too much into it, but we are optimistic that this news is good thus far. We think that the Lord has something up his sleeve—we have felt that he has been carrying us. And we know, WE KNOW that he could just heal Layne with no chemo, no surgery—he chooses to provide medicines and doctors, but if he chooses to, this could all go away in a second. Therefore, we are on this journey for a purpose. We are trying to glorify Him in the journey…and to learn to walk not by sight, but by faith.

Please don’t quit praying. We know that your prayers are changing our lives. Never think “No one knows…my prayers are not important.” They ARE important. God listens. He does listen.

And He cares about YOU !

Biopsy...thanks St. Rose Hospital!

Well, you know you can have a great experience or a horrible experience at a hospital. Locally, our experiences have not been the best. However, Layne's biopsy was scheduled at St Rose Siena, and we both felt it was an amazing experience.

Check in was very quick, they accepted the blood work from the doctor's office, which had already been transferred--so no double stick! (When you have cancer, you become a pin cushion, and one less stick is a HUGE thing.)

Then, the procedure was quick, fairly painless (Layne felt pressure, but no real pain.) Then the nursing staff on the post-op floor was wonderful! Our nurse was Barbara, and she was an angel.

Now, we await results, and chemo is due to start again on Thursday. It will be interesting to see if the results change our chemo or our strategy. Again, with cancer, you never know what tomorrow will bring.

Layne is still feeling very good. He is loving his juiced carrots and wheat grass, and he notices that he does not crave sweets like he used to since he started juicing carrots!

Perhaps we should all juice carrots!

Something exciting and something terrifying...all in one week.

Well, finally, it's a reality. As we sat in the chemo room, thinking up tee shirt designs and hoping that we could bring some joy to other patients and their families, we wondered if we would be able to bring the idea to fruition. We looked into the future, and we thought the week it really came into existence would be amazing.

And it has been, but it has also been terrifying, because this week, we learned that Layne is no longer in NED status--he has mets to the liver and two nodes.

We've been told before that his lifespan is limited. And we beat the original prognosis. So we believe it can happen again. We have to believe. We don't have a choice.

Layne has esophageal cancer. It's a rare cancer, not a lot of people have heard of it. Unfortunately, its incidence is growing, especially among men ages 40-50. Layne is 46.

We were told he was stage IVA and therefore, would not get surgery. But after chemo and radiation at MD Anderson, he did indeed get surgery. The surgery seemed to have gone well. The biopsy though, showed perineural invasion--never a good sign for EC.

Our first scans went very well. Layne has been feeling better than he has in twenty years...so we expected great scans this time, as well. How can you be ill when you feel amazing, right?

But our scans on Friday were horrific. Mets...and a bad prognosis. But he still feels great, and we have a great doctor who is willing to fight. And we believe only God numbers our days. So we'll see what God has in store for us on this odd journey.

In the meantime, we got our merchant account approval and our first tee shirt designs arrived, so we are ready to launch. We are excited because we are tired of slogans that keep the attitudes of cancer patients in the negative.

We hope you'll enjoy our designs. We certainly get a lot of comments when we walk through the hospital! And we hope to have quilt blocks, tote bags and hats very soon!

Welcome to ClubNEDwear. You can also follow us on our carepage at www.carepages.com/carepages/ourjourneyinhishands

Let us know how we can pray for you, and visit us at www.ClubNEDwear.com --we should be live any day now!