We were so happy to get the results from Merlynn's latest MRI and hear the good news that his tumors have not grown or spread during the past six months! We feel so blessed! Also, his latest CgA marker is lower than it's been in six months. This is another great indication that his tumors are stable.
Merlynn received some really interesting information from his online support group this week. Several studies were cited about a virus being developed in Sweden which kills neuroendocrine tumors. One of the awesome things about the virus is it kills only the cancer tumors and nothing else! (That type of virus is called an oncolytic virus, by the way.) So far, the data comes from lab rats, but it's amazing! More funding and experimentation are needed before it can be given to humans, but scientists are very optimistic about the results. (Apple is supposedly donating a huge sum of money towards the research since this is the type of cancer that killed Steve Jobs.)
I have to admit, I'm a little skeptical because all of this sounds just too good to be true. Wouldn't it be great though, if Mer and others like him could survive long enough for this treatment to be available to them? I'm in awe of people who are smart enough to come up with these ideas, and I'm so grateful for all the hard work being done to try to find a cure for this illness! (We also owe a debt of gratitude to those lab rats.)
Here's a great article that tells more about how the virus works: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9508895/A-virus-that-kills-cancer-the-cure-thats-waiting-in-the-coldc.html
