We reached our goal!!! (again!)

Well, it's a few hours until June 1st (the date we had as our goal end date) and we just got a donation that put us at our goal! It's been so amazing to see these donations come in. I want to share the note from the last donor.
Please give Sarah my best wishes for a complete recovery. Sarah was so good and helpful to my daughter Colleen while at Island View. Colleen also sends her thoughts and prayers. Colleen graduated high school last year and is now volunteering full time for a year at Catholic Charities in Baltimore and begins college this fall. She could not have turned her life around without Sarah's care and help. We are pulling for Sarah. She is a kind, giving and special person with a true gift in helping young people. Thank you Sarah for all you have done for your family and please let us know if we can do anything to help you.
I love my sister! And thank you all for your love and help!

I just got off the phone with Sarah. Today she met with a Sarcoma Specialist at the Huntsman Clinic. Since her diagnosis was GIST from McKay Dee and Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma from the Mayo Clinic - The Huntsman Clinic would like to do some of their own testing. Dr. Gouw is certain that she does have a Sarcoma cancer but thinks there may be a possibility it could be Sarcoma Synovial. This cancer travels through the whole body and so she would have to do Chemo and lose her hair. But this is a little less rare than the Mesothelioma so they would know better how to treat it. I guess the Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma only has 25 documented cases since 1950 so the treatments for that are considered a little experimental. They are going to test her for a specific gene and if she has it - the diagnosis will be the Synovial cancer. They are also going to do a PET scan at the end of this week that will detect areas of increased metabolic activity (cancerous tissue is very metabolically active) to see if the cancer has spread elsewhere. Then, she'll get all the test results and meet with Dr. Gouw again to go over her options (around the 2nd week of June).

She sends her gratitude to everyone. She's feeling very loved and taken care of. A special thanks to my brother-in-law Dr. Pulsipher who helped get the ball rolling at the Huntsman Clinic.

Mesothelioma

Yesterday Sarah met with her oncologist and she does indeed have Abdominal Mesothelioma. It's such a rare cancer that the doctor she met with has never treated it before. He is going to refer her to a more specialized oncologist. He's checking with the Huntsman Clinic in Salt Lake but also said she might have to go out of state to be treated. So, it's kind of annoying that she had an appointment just to tell her she will need to see someone else. We are just waiting now to hear back.

We reached our goal!!!

Can you believe it!! We reached our goal of $3,000!! There are still people who want to donate - so I've upped the goal to $4,000. We are feeling very grateful and I know Sarah wishes she could thank each of you in person and give you all a hug . She cries every time I tell her about another donation and the wonderful person who gave it. I can't even begin to express our family's gratitude for helping our sweet sister/daughter. Thank you all so much.

Sarah's update

This is a text from Sarah last night:

Okay, so I know it's late, but I'd like to update you all on what's been going on with me. I got my staples out today and it looks pretty good. At the doctor I weight 156 which is only 16 lbs over my presurgery weight. I finally feel like I'm on the mend. This is the first day I haven't cried since I came home from the hospital (poor Shaun). We saw a PA who started all this and there are definitely more than one diagnosis being thrown around. My appt with the oncologist is on the 9th. We may or may not have a diagnosis after that. But the good news is I'm feeling good! My goal is to start walking 3 times a day for 20 min. Anyone who wants to stop by for a walk is more than welcome.