John's Second Wind

Dear followers of John's Trophy Run,

This past week, John has been to see Dr. Vredenburgh at the Tisch Brain Tumor Center. In February, right after Greg's post, John had a series of seizures. The first one was the big one but he had many smaller ones that ended with him spending several days in the hospital. Dr.V said it sent up some red flags, and that resulted in a visit to Duke.

Greg and I have been in Chapel Hill since February.  Greg is teaching at the charter school again. This provides us with an opportunity to share wonderful times with Nathan, Danielle, and grandson Noah.
Long story short, we were also here to help John and Karen get around Durham, give them an place to stay, and provide an opportunity for them to visit with the whole NC family. I am so thankful to be able to help in this way.



Nathan and Great Uncle John cheer as Noah catches the ball! Danielle captures the moment.



John had a MRI and PET scan at the Duke facilities and a follow-up appointment with Dr. Vredenburgh. The tests results showed a small tumor, about the size of the end of a pencil eraser, had started to grow. John has not had any treatment for the cancer in about 15 months. Needless to say, we were very disappointed with the test results. Dr. V. was positive and thought we could be successful in stopping the growth with chemo and avastin. Today he will begin a daily dose of Temador, the chemo drug, and tomorrow will have a 1/2 dose of avastin, the experimental drug, Dr. V. is using in his brain cancer study. If John tolerates the avastin for two rounds, they will bump it up next month. These two drugs were successful in John getting an "in remission" diagnosis the last time. You can bet, his family is hoping and praying for the same results this time as well.



The original John's Team in 2008!  Thanks so much to all of you!

 Danielle, our daughter-in-law, is organizing another go at the Angels Among Us 5K on April 30th in Durham. This will support the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke. She has been training like crazy and even talked me into running! We have "John's Team" with her parents, Nita and Larry Glickman, Nathan, Laura, Greg and I think her brother,Seth and fiance, Ellen Walker. For everyone except Greg,Laura and me, this is the second time they have been members of "John's Team". Would you consider donating to this cause that has helped John so much? Here is a link to the website. You can donate online, and every little bit helps.

We will try to keep the blog going to keep you updated on John's progress. Please keep Karen in your thoughts and prayers too, as being his care giver is a very hard job. Any cards or emails are most appreciated, too. John and Karen's new address is 3435 SW Urish Road, Topeka, KS. 66614.

Our family thanks you for your love and support of this next part of the run!! We are hoping that John's second wind kicks in very quickly.
love, Martha