“Life will always throw you curves, just keeping fouling them off…
the right pitch will come, but when it does, be prepared to run the bases.” ~Rick Maksian

Last week threw Hap a curve ball when he received the results from the octreoscans (nuclear scans that measure the uptake of the cancer).
The cancer is once again active in the liver, pelvic area and now, the pancreas. Hap’s doctor immediately talked about a clinical trial.
The only problem was Hap’s bilirubin count was too high for the trial. As of Friday, Hap’s count came down enough to qualify and he was accepted into the trial…YEAH!

The trial consists of receiving a combination of Bevacizumab and Temsirolimus through IV. Each cycle of treatment is 28 days longs.
http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/2270.cfm?IRBNO=09-125

Here’s the ironic thing (or divine intervention) of the whole trial. Last February, Team Rowan raised $10,000 through Cycle for Survival
for research for rare cancers. About a month ago, Hap and Mary received a call saying their team’s money would be given to Dr. Reidy
at Memorial Sloan Kettering for carcinoid cancer research. Last week when Hap and Mary read the 18 page trial report, they noticed the study doctor on the trial is Dr. Reidy. It’s nice to know fundraising really makes a difference.

Meanwhile, Hap and Mary are researching and considering Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy (PRRT) in Sweden or Germany.
This treatment is not yet available in the US, but has proven to stop tumor growth and shrink carcinoid tumors.
http://prrtinfo.org/


Hap starts the trial this week…so Hap, prepare to run those bases!