Shane

I got these emails from Brenda Lee about Shane yesterday 10/19/06.

Brenda Lee

Here is the other news. The Shaffer news. I am sure mom would be so busy and stressed to forget to tell anyone else.

Shane got sick about three to four weeks ago. Mom took him to the doctor and they treated him for a chest cold and broncitus. He had a bad cough and chest discomfort.

Mom said he called her about 10 days later and he could hardly talk or walk. Mom took him to an acute care, we thought he had pnemonia. The doctor there would not do an x-ray so mom took him to her doctor. She knew he had pnemonia and not to mention he had lost 10 pounds in the 10 days. He could not eat or anything.

Well moms doctor x-rayed him for pnemonia but she found an orange size mass inbetween his heart and lungs. They went to emergency room and did a biopsy and Shane has what is called Lymphoblastic Lymphoma. It is cancer. He has been very sick sionce then. That was on Friday the 8th of this month. He has been in ICU because the mass is pushing on his vein that leads to his trachea, hindering his speech and breathing. He is now in Tampa at a cancer hospital and on Monday they started a thing where they take his sperm and bank it becuase he will be sterile, more than likely, after his chemo. He started his chemo and radiation today. It will be an ongoing treatment for 6 months. Mom says he will be treated 4 days on and 3 weeks off. Normally it is 7 on 7 off. But Shanes cancer is so large and harmful to him that he needs intensive chemo and radiation. It is so intense that he has to have 3 weeks breaks to allow his body to recover inbetween. That is all I know at this point. It has been a rough two weeks. Now all we do is wait and pray for him.

ME
Oh that is horrible!! Do you have any idea what his prognosis is?
Yes you had told me about her wrist and sent me that picture.
I feel like I am in shock to hear that about Shane.
Is your Mom with him every day at the hospital? How about Bobby and Mimi? How are they doing?

Brenda Lee
Yes it has us all in shock. He goes in with what we assume is pneumonia and find he has a cancerous tumor the size of a large orange and it was growing.
Bobby has taken it very hard Mom said. But now that they are doing something and it is diagnosed, he is holding up better.
Mimi has been upbeat and positive since day one. She has beat cancer and a tumor so she does not worry about Shane beating it she said.

The type of cancer he has is broke down into two kinds. There is b-cell which is also called leukemia. This is the most dangerous of the two. Shane has what is called t-cell. It is the most treatable. His survival rate with chemo during treatment is 80-90%. His survival rate after being in remission for 5 years would be 85-95%.
The doctor feels confident she said that he will be fine. But in all honesty you never know. Shane is very sick now and he just started treatment. I have read that it is the chemo and radiation that is hard on them. But the doc said that there is better medicine today to help with the nausea from the radiation. So time will tell. I can say we have many people praying for him so we are trusting God will bring him through this. Dad is taking it very hard, as expected, since Shane is like his son.

I just wanted to let you know because I know how special he was to you and George growing up.

I will keep you posted or you can talk to mom. She is in the hospital with him as much as she can be.

Today 10/20/06
Me
I forgot to ask. Is he at St Joseph’s Hospital? If so do you know the room number? Not phone but the room I wanted to send a card.

Brenda Lee
I do not know the name of the hospital. He more than likely goes home tomorrow or the next day for 3 weeks until next session. I talked to them just a few minutes ago.

Shane was nauseous and mom said he was being a real stinker. I told him to be quiet, what he thinks he is special cuz he has cancer? And he (Shane) says, well mom should buy me this new X-box game. I have cancer ya know and I might not live to buy it myself.

we were cracking up. His spirits are good right now. But they said his immune system will not drop for two more weeks. That is when they must be careful. He can not eat out in any restaurant for 6 months. All foods must be washed twice and then cooked completely to avoid any food poison because his immune system will be gone. Mimi said he will be like Michael Jackson,. because he will be in a mask all the time.