Your sibling is the first friend that you have in your life. My younger brother and I spent our childhoods growing up in Central Florida during the 1970s and 80s. There were times where we got along, and times when we didn't. My family has had its share of ups and downs. In the late 90s, my brother's infant son died. In 2004, our Father died and my brother and I were two of the pallbearers.
Last week, my brother went to the emergency room complaining that he was fatigued all of the time. They did some tests and found out that he was anemic. They began looking for the cause and saw that his lymph nodes were swollen. More tests, and the diagnosis came: cancer. Not just any cancer, but a form of non-Hodgkins Lymphoma called Mantle Cell Lymphoma. This particular form of cancer is fast growing, incurable, and deadly. It is rare and aggressive. His life expectancy is likely less than three years.
Sorry to hear that news. Do you have just the one brother?
ReplyDeleteFWIW, reading that site doesn't make it sound as bad you say. Let me follow that quickly with the doctor obviously knows more about his condition than the website.
They talk about stem cell treatment. When my wife had her breast cancer in '97, she had a stem cell transplant (autologous bone marrow transplant) at H. Lee Moffitt cancer center at the USF in Tampa. I'm not going to say it's pleasant, they call a bone marrow transplant the most grueling ordeal in medicine, but they were extremely good at what they do.