Research that
Benefits Children and Families – Uplifting Stories
As some of you may know, my brother has cerebral palsy. By the age of 20, he had more surgeries than
any one person should have to endure in a lifetime. Then came the news that at 26 years old, he
was diagnosed with bladder cancer. It was
devastating to him and my family. Hadn’t
he suffered enough? Well, my parents and
sister met with the oncologist who went over his medical treatment plan. They were to remove his bladder, prostate gland,
and surrounding lymph nodes. Then came
the issue of chemo-therapy and radiation.
Because his cancer was an odd form that had built inside the wall of his
bladder rather than creates a solid mass, there was not much research on the
effects of radiation on this form of cancer. Furthermore, the research that
existed, could not prove that radiation made an impact on the treatment of
these types of cancer patients. So, my parents elected to not subject him to
radiation treatments. When they weighed
the risks/benefits of radiation treatment for him, they felt there just wasn’t enough
research out there to support this form of treatment. They proceeded with the scheduled surgery and
chemo-therapy for my brother. This happened
in the fall of 1992. My brother is still
cancer-free today and enjoying life with my parents in Florida.
