When we started this journey, Tom sought out resources and he came home from the library armed with books. The book that caught my eye in the pile was Defy and Conquer by Mindy Elwell. She was fighting an astrocytoma (grade 3) but had a much harder go of it than Tom has had to date. Her book was the first “resource” we had for the Keto diet and her success with it. Her story and her spirit inspired me and we picked up lots of tips for talking to the doctors. I had taken to following her story along with two others-Adam Blain-author of Pear Shaped (glioblastoma) (hilarious) and Bryan Bishop author of Shrinkage (inoperable brain stem tumor) that hit a chord with us as he was diagnosed shortly after his engagement. Following these people, I share in their victories and try to glean whatever I can that may be useful to us in our own journey. Tom also corresponds with a blogger in New York who is about 6 months ahead of him from when she was diagnosed and is also using Optune and she’s been another great font of strength in all this.I had watched this past month or so as Mindy’s story took a turn for the worse and today learned that she had passed. She stretched her 18 month prognosis into three years with her loved ones.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?n=melinda-a-elwell-westerlind&pid=182628485&fhid=15218
My heart absolutely aches for her family and friends. (There is info in the obit about how to donate to a trust for her kids). I love that her legacy and story of love, hope and courage will live on and we will keep up our fight to honor her memory now too.
Okay Mindy, we’ll keep fighting. So who else is out there that is beating this? Well I found this lady-a 16 year glioblastoma survivor (!!!) and a semi-local woman at that.
This woman is incredible. Her tumor keeps coming back and she keeps knocking it down each time. I’m really looking forward to reading her full story.
And who knows? Maybe some day someone in our situation will look to Tom’s blog as a beacon of hope during their dark hours. If we’re really lucky, and if I can ever get him to sit still long enough, maybe we’ll even get a book out of him.
Wish us luck for tomorrow. Results late Wednesday.