I was diagnosed with thymic carcinoma in Oct of 1997. I had no symptoms and the turmor was found on a routine chest x-ray that I has for other reasons. I had surgery that involved removal of my thymus as well as removing a wedged shaped piece of my left lung and a some of my pericardium as the tumor has spread. At the time of surgery they were not able to removed all of the tumor. I then underwent both chemotherapy and radiation treatments from Dec 1997 through Feb 1998. I have been in remission every since and my physicans now consider me cured.Read More →

I am new to this web site. I don’t know why since I am a long term thymic cancer patient. I also have myasthenia gravis. I was originally diagnosed with thymoma in 1986, had it surgically removed and then radiation for 30 days after. I was deemed cancer free for 13 years. Then in Jan. 1999 I had pneumonia and recurrent pleural effusions which would not go away. Finally my pulmonologist figured out that my tumor had become active again. Ironically, I was a clinical research associate so I knew a lot about the medical profession. I immediately contacted Dr. Loehrer in Indiana and Dr.Read More →

Reading your stories here and on the message board has been extremely helpful to me. My father has been recently diagnosed with thymic carcinoma (August 2005), so I want to share his story. My father, Marc, is a 69 year old man who is more than a bit overweight. He optimistically says that at least this disease might help him trim down. Dad had a persistent cough for several months when he finally agreed to go see a doctor about it. His chest x-ray was a bit cloudy, so his primary care physician sent him for a CT scan as well. The CT scan showedRead More →

Mary Lynn Rampmeyer’s Hi Alan: thanks for the t-shirt, which i received in April. Sorry for the delay in thanking you. Since I wrote before, I have been to Indiana university hospital and saw Dr. Patrick Loehrer, an oncologist who sees a lot of thymus cancers and Dr. Kenneth Kesler, the cardiothoracic surgeon who does the surgery in most of Dr. Loehrer’s cases. it was a very enlightening visit. They explained that surgery was possible as long as a heart/lung pump was available in case there was a need to patch the blood vessels. They said that radiation would cause a lot of scar tissueRead More →

I am writing to you with a permanent lump in my throat, a hot head and severe heartache. My dad has thymic cancer, he was diagnosed earlier this year and his story runs almost parallel to Steve’s (on your site https://www.thymic.org/Steve.htm). However, Steve’s story is very positive and he has been so fortunate with his success. I can only wish him from the deepest of my heart that he continues to be in the clear. My father has undergone chemo, he was told the tumour was 100% inoperable but a private Harley Street surgeon said that he would try his absolute best. He was operatedRead More →

Paul E. Johnson I was diagnosed with malignant Thymoma in June of 2001. The doctors tried the normal procedure of surgery, but after opening my chest up found it was too dangerous. From August 2001 till November of 2001 I took a regime of three chemo drugs (Cisplatin, Cytoxan, and Doxtorubicon). This was followed in January-February 2002 with thirty-one radiation treatments, the max I could have. In March 2002 it was discovered the Thymoma had moved to my lungs and liver. I then went through treatment with two chemo drugs (Carboplatin and Taxol), from April of 2002 till September 2002. In January 2003 the tumorsRead More →

I went to the doctor in Dec.2002 with a cough and slight lump below the collarbone. Following Xray , Scan , biopsy etc. I was told I had non-small cell lung cancer and had approx. 6 months to live. (Yes , your Math is right – that should make me the ghost of Christmas Past!) I started chemo for this – Carboplatin and Gemcitabine. I was 41 at the time. Second opinion suggested Thymic Carcinoma stage 4b with surgery a possibility after chemo to reduce size of the numerous tumours throughout my left lung. The chemo was initially very effective and I had 8 cyclesRead More →

Philip Chun Philip passed away on September 12, 2004. I am a 37 yr old male who was diagnosed with stage IVb thymic carcinoma back in 2000. The pathology dept that initially reviewed an enlarged lymph node that had been removed from the base of my neck mis-diagnosed it. I do not want to convey an unfair/inaccurate impression of the HMO nor the oncologist. This is especially important to me as I along with others have high respect and confidence in my oncologist regardless of the mis-diagnosis by the pathology department. My intention of including the incident of mis-diagnosis was to indicate this possibility thatRead More →

Ramon Canton I am very excited about talking to this special group about a condition that no one knows allot about. I have just reciently gone through my first cemothreapy and feel relativly good. A few months ago I started coughing for no apparent reason and I went to my doctor. She decided to do a chest x ray and saw a “cloudy” area near my heart. We did a CT scan and saw the “beast” on my thymus. We followed up with a biopsy and it had inconclusive results. I met with my oncologist and since we had no information on if it wasRead More →

Steve Kurtz drowned while white water rafting in Idaho on June 29th. From Marie, Steve’s wife: Steve died in a water rafting accident. He was still in remission at the time of his death. While the months after the end of his treatment were tough ones, he was living life to its fullest. At the time of his death, he had just volunteered to participate in a clinical drug trial for the MG which sometimes accompanies thymic cancers. and was looking forward to getting back to riding his bike His family takes great consolation that he died doing what he loved best–being out in theRead More →