The story of Therese
My husband Keith was diagnosed with Appendix cancer in October of 2010. Since diagnosis he underwent every chemo/targeted therapy known to possibly keep at bay this cancer. None of those chemo’s worked for him. In July of 2011, Keith had a 12-hour cytoreduction surgery with HIPEC with an expert surgeon in the Chicago, IL area with the intent for cure. It is currently the only known procedure to be considered curative. Unfortunately, Keith’s disease was far too progressed to achieve this cure, and still, we had hoped that the HIPEC (which is hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy) would take care of the remaining tumor left on his small intestine. It was not to be. Keith tried chemotherapy again, hoping that the outcome would be different after surgery since there was less disease to control. His pathology proved to show adenocarcinoma of appendiceal origin along with mucinous peritoneal implants known as pseudomyxoma peritonei. Basically, he has a hybrid disease of slowing growing mucinous (50% cancer) tumors and an aggressive adenocarcinoma which are hard tumor implants known as carcinomatosis. Each 3-month scan proved the chemotherapy to be ineffective for him with the cancer doubling with each scan, and the decision to stop chemo was made in May of 2012.
The courage that Keith has shown since that decision has been amazing. He chose to live his life as if he did not have this rare cancer. He was blessed with many vacations and wonderful memories made with me and our family and friends. Through painful bowel blockages he smiled and refused to say I give up.
Sadly, the disease has progressed to the point of ravaging his body, but never his spirit! We still hold on to the hope of a miracle. Keith is currently receiving hospice services but enjoys reading his newspaper, his family, computer time, listening to music and smiling. He smiles every day. And every day that he is with me is nothing short of miraculous to me.