Dear Praying Friends,
Greetings. It’s
Thanksgiving week here in the U.S. Our family has a lot to be thankful
for this season. I am thankful simply for the fact that I’m here
this Thanksgiving, since the doctor told me last December I only had
six months to live. I’m also thankful that Bryan and I had a special
time together last week while he was on leave from the Coast Guard.
Now I’ve had a special time with each one of my kids. In Early
December Bryan’s Coast Guard Cutter takes off on a 6-8 month deployment
to the Persian Gulf.
It’s been
several weeks since we’ve written. Many have written and asked
for an update. We want to say how grateful we are for your faithful
prayers. A lot has been happening and we’ve been waiting for the
dust to settle a bit. The good news is that, despite some new pains
I’ve acquired, new CT scans and MRI’s in early November
show no additional metastasis. People tell me I look good. I usually
respond that I wish I felt as good as I look. ?
In early November
I had the privilege of being the speaker at Christians in Action’s
annual fund raising banquet in nearby Visalia. There were around 300
present and I enjoyed sharing my journey with cancer as well as some
stories from our life in missions.
We found out one
of the requirements for the stem cell transplant is that the potential
participant needs to have undergone Interlueken-2 (IL-2). My treatments
at USC/Norris in Los Angeles with a modified version of IL-2 in February
are not recognized as valid so I just started some local treatments
of low-dose IL-2 as an outpatient, complete with its side effects. After
several sessions of this it will qualify me for the transplant. I then
have to wait 30 days before I can begin the transplant. Lord willing,
I will start early January.
However, we were
disappointed to find out that our medical coverage does not cover stem
cell transplants, since it is considered experimental investigation.
Fortunately, UCSF apparently has some assistance programs available
that may assist us in pursuing the transplant. We’ll be consulting
with them in December regarding the details on these. Please pray that
there will be something available.
The transplant
process itself is quite extensive. I will be hospitalized at UCSF Medical
Center 5 days prior to the transplant to undergo mild chemotherapy in
order to prepare my system for my brother’s stem cell donation.
After the transplant I will remain hospitalized for 2-3 weeks. After
I’m discharged I must remain in the Bay area for up to 100 days
for monitoring and twice-a-week clinic check-ups. During that time I’ll
virtually be under “house arrest” in order to avoid the
public and any infections that I’ll be so susceptible to. Becky’s
sister, Cindy, and her husband in Fremont have graciously opened their
home during that time but we still must work out transportation to the
hospital each week since I can’t use public transportation. Both
Cindy and her husband work full-time. Please pray that this need will
be taken care of. It takes 5-6 months for us to determine if the transplant
is successful.
The allogenic stem
cell transplant has a success rate of 40% but also carries a high degree
of risk. The idea is to replace my immune system with my brother’s.
The hope is that the foreign immune system will not attack my normal
tissue excessively but that it may be able to recognize the tumors as
abnormal and destroy them, even though my own immune system does not.
This treatment is considered a form of immunotherapy.
For those of you
that tried to access my October newspaper article over the internet
but were unsuccessful with the web address, it is still accessible using
the following link: http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/news/stories/20021023/localnews/351334.html
I Cor. 4:15
– 5:9 (NIV) “All this is for your benefit, so that the grace
that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow
to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly
we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For
our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory
that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen,
but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen
is eternal. Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed,
we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by
human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly
dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For
while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do
not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling,
so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who
has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit,
guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and
know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the
Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would
prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make
it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away
from it.”
With Thanksgiving,
Doug Sutherland
