Wow, those prayers are working fast. We met with Dr. Allen today and she said "this opportunity literally fell out of the sky and into our laps." What opportunity? A clinical trial that is directly targeting some mutations that Alec just so happens to have. We met two new doctors and they said the same thing. I guess the story was they had a conference call on Tuesday, with Genetech, the company that makes this new drug and they had only one "slot" left. Well I guess they already had a patient in Boston from Dana Farber, but something happened and the slot opened up again. Dr. Jurich, who had only heard of Alec that same day and knew his age and also his mutations quickly spoke up and said I have the perfect patient for this trial. I guess this is something that only comes around once, and it was perfect timing, or answered prayers?
We spent the entire day in one little exam room, first meeting with Dr. Allen, then Dr. Jurich, then the cheif of the department. Dr. Jurich is going to be our new BFF and is the point person for this trial. This is a cutting edge drug, and I think I heard the doctors say the word "exciting" about 5 times today. Of course, the patient (Alec) has to be screened and prepped to make sure he is eligible, but we all feel pretty confident since ALec is otherwise the picture of health. The drug is in pill form and must be taken every day for 4 weeks, side affects are minimal compared to chemo. There is no garuntee that this drug will work, but the doctors feel confident that it "could" since Alec has these targeted mutations.
As soon as we met with Dr. Jurich, we both felt this thing called "HOPE" fill our hearts once again.
Dr. Jurich describes the drug like this....picture a car speeding uncontrollably down the highway, chemo, is like a mallet which smashes the car. But can only work for so long and it can only smash so many cars. Targeted drug therapy is like stopping whatever is causing that car to drive uncontrollably, whether it be the peddle that is stuck or the spark plug or whatever, this drug will stop whatever is causing the car to speed uncontrollably. He described it at the molecular level as well, but the car analogy made more sense. Its stopping the cells from dividing, messing up those receptors that cause cell division. Only a few hospitals in the country even offer such drugs and MGH is obviously one of them (because they are the BEST!).
Chase was such a good boy all day, he came with us and was the perfect little baby. He got to meet all Alec's doctors and nurses and to be honest, I think he helps us with our case, look at this little, precious baby, you HAVE to SAVE his FATHERS LIFE...he is counting on you.
Leaving MGH today we feel like we still have a chance and we are going to give it our everything, this is it, we want to finish this fight once and for all.
Chase and Dadda after a long day at MGH...
We prepare for this next battle, more drugs, more scans, and most importantly, more Hope. We both are so relieved that at least we have another shot at beating this. Tuesday was a bad, bad, day. We thought it was over, we were both devastated, beside ourselves, trying to be strong for one another but we could each see through the faint smiles, the weak attempt to make each other laugh, that our light was dimming and our faith was wavering. But once again, through prayers, love and support from all our friends and family, we are ready to face what lies ahead and our Gracious God has given us yet another chance.
Thank you all for your never ending love and support. We are praying for a miracle.
Love,
Heather, Alec, Chase and Millie
