ALS Vs Glioblastoma

Sorry to know you had to experience the illness of a loved with whom you have shared your life with for such a long time. Hopefully you will be strengthen by the joy and good times you shared.

I chose to write an essay about the “Topic of Cancer” by Christopher Hitchens. In this short autobiographical essay, Hitchens discusses his experience with Esophageal cancer. Just one day after lanching his book “Hitch-22” Hitchens was made aware of his illness, where he later describes the news as “taking me from the country of well, to the stark frontier.” It was then he chose to write about his experience for the purpose of documenting the changes that he, and his body were about to go through with chemotherapy, and also for the purpose of contemplating his current situation. The reason that I chose this story is because of my own personal experiences that I have had with many loved ones in my life. There is one case in particular that stands out in my memory, among the rest. It was when my friend of many years discovered that he had a very rare form of brain cancer. Soon after undergoing chemotherapy, he lost his battle. There are many people that believe chemotherapy at any stage is the best, and often times, the only way to cure cancer, yet others claim that chemotherapy is not the answer at all. A close analysis of recent statistics can settle this debate.

Dr. Randy Pausch, a professor of computer science at Carnegie-Mellon University who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, educated me with his powerful inspirational message. Dr. Randy Pausch, 47 years old man who has terminal cancer with a life expectancy of a few months gave me a life lesson. He thought me how to achieve dreams also how to face death. Being diagnosed with any kinds of cancer is devastating and despairing, but for him it was opposite; he was happy and cognitively healthy during his final lecture at Carnegie-Mellon University. He even said, “If I don 't seem as depressed or morosed as I should be, sorry to disappoint you” (Video) and continued lecturing. He hadn’t show any sadness or depression during his lecture

Brain cancer develops from cells within the brain. The brain controls the vital functions of the body, including, speech, movement, thoughts, feelings, memory, sight, hearing, and more. Brain cancer affects people in many different ways. Brain cancer is diagnosed at the local stage in 76.6% of people. The 5-year survival for localized brain and other nervous system cancer is 36.3%. Brain cancer will cause anything from headaches to balance and walking problems, changes in your vision, muscle twitches, memory problems, and nausea and vomiting.

The calendar read July 28, 2014 as I laid on a cold, hard hospital bed awaiting the results of my MRI scan. My waiting came to a sudden end when the Oncologist entered the room with a sorrowful look revealing I had stage 4A Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Lost for words, as I sat in disbelief of the news, tears began to run down my face. Oddly, my tears were not of sadness. At the time, crying just felt like the natural thing to do. My body physically reacted before my mind could even begin to process the information.

Andy was embarking on his second semester of his junior year in college. After a long bout with a cold and the sudden emergence of a protruding mass on his chest, he knew something was not right. Within a week, he received devastating news - a diagnosis of an aggressive form of bone cancer. The treatment regiment included two years of chemotherapy and radiation. The extensiveness of his cancer made surgical treatment impossible. After just his first dose of chemotherapy, he became septic and spent six weeks in an intensive care unit followed by weeks of rehabilitation. Although he had been optimistic about continuing to attend classes and staying involved with campus organizations throughout the treatment course, a disabled immune system and countless days in the hospital prevented this. His friends and peers became distant because his appearance and prognosis made them uncomfortable and speechless. He eventually relied on his mother and closest friends to take him to appointments because of increasing weakness and chronic pain. When his world was virtually turned upside down and he eventually lost much of his independence, Andy started to display symptoms of major depressive disorder.

Introduction I. Attention-getter: “On New Year’s Day 2013, after months of suffering from unbearable headaches, your family member learned that they had brain cancer. This family member was 29 years old, just married over a year ago, and was hoping to start to build a family. Every day the lives of this couple involved hospital stays, doctor consultations and medical research” (Brittany Maynard). A. “Nine days after the initial diagnoses, your family member have a partial craniotomy and a partial resection of their temporal lobe, both an effort to stop the growth of the tumor growing inside their head” (Brittany Maynard). 1.

“’So what’s your story?’” she then then replies “’I already told you my story. I was diagnosed when-‘” He interrupts and says “’No, not your cancer story. Your story. Interests, hobbies, passions, etcetera… Don’t tell me you’re one of those people who becomes their disease. I know so many people like that. It’s disheartening. Like cancer is in the growth business, right? The taking-people-over business. But surely you haven’t let it succeed prematurely’” (Green, 32).

“I’m now facing 12 months of non cancer IV chemo to regulate my endocrine system. It has weakened almost to the point of failure due to all the physical stress to my body. I need this time to receive expensive treatment to heal, get back to work, and write my book project about 50 years of medical disasters…oh and by the way…the 4 heart surgeries were due to defects I was born with…I was not smoking and eating pizza every day in my mother’s womb (laugh).”

Dutch was diagnosed with glioblastoma and had surgery to remove two tumors in 2013. Prognosis after his surgery was good, and he far outlived the average patient due to how aggressively brain tumors grow. Following his diagnosis, he opened the Darren Daulton Foundation, that provides medical relief for those fighting brain tumors and brain cancer. Dutch’s love and care for other people never wavered, despite what he was going through, much like the days of ice packs on his knees.

When I was a kid, I always wondered why it took so long for an ill person to become well again. I always thought that if the ill person went to the doctor they would be back to normal the next day, but that’s not the case. For some people it took several days, weeks, months, and even years to conquer an illness but as a child I never could understand that. I don’t know how many times I’ve asked my mom or dad how come the doctors don’t get together and make a “miracle” drug that could heal anything and everything. It wasn’t until the age of 15 when my grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer that I understood why it took so long for others to heal and the process that they had to endure in order to be healthy again. Shortly after my grandmother’s diagnosis, I started looking into what it would take to get a drug that would cure cancer through the approval process on the shelf to save some many others just like my grandmother. But I kept running into a dead end. Everything seemed to keep pointing towards chemotherapy and radiation. Although I wanted something to heal my grandmother fast, chemotherapy and radiation was the only solution if I had wish to see her watch me graduate high school. I went to almost every appointment with her to watch how it helped strengthen but also watch as it drained her energy. A month of chemotherapy and a few weeks of radiation and my

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is commonly referred to as ALS. This disease is also known to many as Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is a disease characterized by the slow death of certain nerve cells in the brain and spine. As described by research done through the Mayo Clinic, nerve cells called motor neurons control the muscles that allow you to move muscles of your body. ALS effects these particular neurons and produce serious neurological effects that can start as muscle weakness that eventually leads to disability and then to death. For some people diagnosed with ALS they may find it difficult to walk, talk, eat food, swallow, and even breathe. These problems can, and will lead to injury, illness, and eventually death. For most people who suffer with ALS, death will occur within three to five years after the first symptoms begin; some people may live for many years beyond that.

One Friday night, I was left alone with my mom. She looked like she had been hit by a train in the freezing cold weather. I was terrified. Finally, mom called the doctor. “I can’t do anything else for you, Mrs.Graham,” she said. That was when I had enough. Imagine instructing a nine-year-old to do a research paper on a new disease and everything that goes along with that disease: cures, medications, procedures, etc. I made up in my mind at that moment, that I would try to figure everything out. I researched, prayed, cried, and then one day, I came home from school to an ambulance at my house. The doctor called and informed my mother that she should go straight to the hospital for admittance, because she finally discovered the problem. Both of the Vagus nerves were accidently cut during a routine surgery for acid reflux, which resulted in paralysis of my mom’s stomach. So that was the new life. School, hospital, bedtime. School, hospital, bedtime. Every day.

One of the many of the world's problems is sickness, but some diseases have no cure which can result in death. Cancer is a code we just can’t seem to crack and it has taken hundreds of thousands of lives. Everyone knows of someone who has died of or had cancer in their life. It’s a hard sickness to beat but many strong people do beat it, some being children. I have personally seen my family members go through this and of course, some didn’t make it out alive. If you have seen anyone who has cancer, you’ll see how it can take over your body, how that person doesn’t even look like themselves anymore.

When I was 17 years old, my father was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Without a doubt it was an event which marked my life and helped me mature in many aspects. I witnessed how my father began to lose his cognitive functions like his ability to focus, changes in his personality, behavior and emotions. This was the first time that I felt interested in learning how the brain process the information and motivated to learn more regarding this disease in order to help him. After my father passed away, my mother fell into a depression so I began to search for ways to improve her emotional state by reading books and magazines on the subject.