X-Message-Number: 2407
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 93 13:31:37 CDT
From:  (Will Dye)
Subject: CRYONICS - Friend has terminal brain cancer

     (Moderator:  You probably shouldn't post this to
sci.cryonics, since this issue has already been posted to
sci.med.  If you think it should be posted anyway, I have
no objections.  I just wanted to avoid redundancy.)  

     I was originally going to send this as a personal
letter to Thomas Donaldson, who I've heard has had
dealings with this issue.  I decided to post it to the
cryonet, in case others may wish to comment.  

     A friend of mine has just been diagnosed at the Mayo
clinic (and again at a local clinic) with terminal cancer. 
He has an inoperable brain tumor, classified as a 3 on a
1-to-4 scale, where 4 is the worst.  It's an astrocytoma
tumor, deep in the left temporal.  The two kinds of tumors
the doctors mentioned were pilocytic and diffuse; they
think it's diffuse and fast-growing.  To describe the
growth pattern, one doctor used the analogy of pouring
water into sand.  

     Doctors at Mayo gave him 3 months to live, 1 year
maximum.  They will probably try chemotherapy and
radiation, but some are wondering if chemotherapy will be
worth the side effects.  He is expected to slowly become
more tired, then slip into a coma, then eventually die.  

     Any ideas, suggestions, news of recent experimental
treatments, etc. would be appreciated.  I have not
mentioned cryonics to him, but I hope to if I have the
chance.  I'm still skeptical of cryonics, but I agree that
the issue deserves proper scientific study, which it 
doesn't seem to be getting from its critics.

--Will  ()     

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