Alan (Page 4)

After reading the horror stories this disease brought upon us I thought I would share my story. I was diagnosed Jan 04 with stage IVb Thymic Carsanoma. I also had pneumonia, anemia and periocarditis when I showed up at the emergency room (PS I am a male 36 years old and was in excellent shape prior). After the biopsy surgery I needed surgery to remove the tumor (11×16×7 mm in size) in my chest. First, I needed heart surgery for the pericarditis, I had about two liters of fluid drained. After that they next removed the tumor (along with my left frenetic nerve) and startedRead More →

2005 Chris passed away on April 18th….the kids and I miss him terribly, but are going on as best we can. There is a terrible void in all of our lives that will never be filled. He turned 46 on April 12th and we celebrated our Wedding anniversary on the 13th. I am hopeful that someday we will find a cure for this terrible disease. I pray even more now, in hopes that Chris can hear me too. God Bless you and yours. Jamie —————— I am a 45-year-old male and the father of five. I have been fighting cancer for seven years and IRead More →

I am a 28-year old male. I was diagnosed with Cushing’s in November of 2003 after I went from 6’5″ 210 lbs. and 8% bodyfat to 6′ 3″ 225 lbs and 25% (I guess my back started curving making me shorter.) I had all of the classic symptoms of Cushing’s (you name it, I had it). I had surgery in December 2003 to remove my thymus, the 8x5x4 cm tumor surrounding it, and 2 lymph nodes. It was deemed an atypical thymic carcinoid. I then underwent chemotherapy with Etoposide and Cisplatin followed by radiation therapy. All of my chemo and radiation doses were the highestRead More →

My husband Danny fell and hurt his shoulder in November and the doctor ordered an x-ray on his shoulder to see if he had any damage or just bruised. His shoulder turned out to be bruised, but there was a spot on the xray that he wanted to have checked out. After visiting several other doctors and more xrays and CT scans they said he had a possible Thymoma and sent him to a Cardiovascular/Thoracic Surgeon. This doctor ordered a biopsy, which came back inconclusive. Since the tumor was so close to the heart they decided to do surgery (same as open heart surgery)on DecemberRead More →

Elaine Ciminna I just finished 3 cycles of treatment with cisplatin but had some awful side effects. My hearing has suffered and I’m loosing feeling in my fingers. I’ll be seeing my thoracic surgeon on Monday to see if he feels my thymoma is operable yet. (Notice I said yet…..I’m thinking positively). If not I guess it will be more chemo for me. I’m putting off radiation as long as possible. Happy holiday wishes to all, Elaine Ciminna New York champk9@aol.com Update: Well the decision is in regarding the next step in my treatment. The chemo did not achieve the results we had hoped for.Read More →

Giulio, Fede’s husband. Sadly, Fede passed away recently. Giulio and Fede are Italian. Her complete story is below in both an Italian and an English version. The English version is an automatic translation done on-line, so please excuse its condition. La malattia incomincia molto prima del sintomo, ma sembra che nessuno lo ricordi o lo insegni. 03/03/2005 La storia di Federica non è a lieto fine. Quello che viene presentato qui è solo Il resoconto del suo ultimo anno di vita; questa descrizione non vi dirà chi era Federica, ma come ha vissuto il suo dramma. In realtà chi l’ha conosciuta sa che Federica haRead More →

Dr. Francis Wang Dr. Francis Wang passed away in October, 2005 Frank’s Story I am Frank from Northern Alabama and I have joined the group only recently. I have Carcinoid of thymus, a different kind of cancer of thymus than thymona or thymic carcinoma. I had surgery Dec. 1996 to remove the tumor, which was already invaded the lung and pericardinal at that time. The surgery could not remove all the microscopic tumor cells and the tumor showed up around the aortic arch about two years later. I had used Xeloda oral tablets about three years ago, but it did not seem to do much.Read More →

Gary died on June 14, 2005. Our thoughts and prayers to his wife Sarah. From Sarah: Gary certainly was a fighter and never let the disease stop him doing what he wanted to do. He even built a fish-pond in April of this year (whilst on chemotherapy) and also managed a precious family holiday, with me, the kids and his sister, to Greece this May (even though he was extremely breathless, on morphine and in a great deal of pain). He never felt sorry for himself and was always smiling and joking throughout all his treatments. I am so proud and thankful to have beenRead More →

Robert L. Humbel Robert Louis Humbel passed away peacefully December 3, 2005 in his home as he wanted. He has had thymic cancer for four years and it was his time. On August 12, 2002, I reported to my local Network Provider for my HMO reporting a breathing problem. A mass was discovered on an x-ray, note was made of it but no follow up was done because I didn’t know about the note or the mass. I especially bring up the subject of HMO because the second hospital was a non-network provider. The medical bills from that facility were over $150,000. Insurance paid roughlyRead More →

Jan Headberg tomboybt@yahoo.com or jheadberg@madbbs.com My name is Jan, age 50. I went on this site once, along time ago. My background was working in an Air Force Lab with chemicals for almost 16 years. Medical History of Sarcoidosis. I found out this past year I have Invasive Epithelial Thymic Thymoma, Stage 4 and Myasthenia Gravis. Now they are thinking it is something other than MG. My blood is now being tested in England. I have had 4 cycles of chemotherapy, Cyclophosphamide, Adriamycin and Cisplatin. No help, just a lot of missing hair. I guess like many of you, I have been told I amRead More →