My son Troy who is 21 years old was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer called Neuroendocrine Cancer. After numerous battles with pneumonia over the last year a mass was found in his right upper lobe of his lung. The mass was determined to be a Nueroendocrine tumor(Carcinoid Tumor). This tumor is rather large and is blocking over 90% of his right upper lobe. Troy has had numerous tests and scans done over the last month to help determine the best course of treatment. Unfortunately Chemotherapy and Radiation do not have much of an effect on Neuroendocrine tumors because they are slow growing tumors. We’ve met with several surgeons here locally and it appears that surgery is the next step in his treatment. In the near future Troy will undergo more tests/scans to determine whether he loses his entire right lung or only his right upper lobe. As of now it appears that the cancer is localized to his right lung but this cancer is known to pop up in various other places without symptoms so Troy will continue to get tests/scans for the rest of his life. This particular cancer requires a special team to closely monitor it in hopes of eradicating it. Unfortunately in our area there aren’t many doctors that specialize in NETs so we are looking at either traveling to Duke in Durham North Carolina or Vanderbilt in Nashville Tennessee. If you can help in any way with a donation to help offset the financial burden that Troy will endure due to his battle against cancer it would be greatly appreciated.
On 5/9/24 we met with a surgeon to go over the latest tests/scans that Troy had done last week. We found out that on Troy’s latest CT Scan that another spot (5mm) was located in another area of his right lung. The surgeon said the risk associated with trying to do a biopsy on it isn’t worth taking so he recommends that we monitor it carefully and if it starts to get any larger or causes issues then we will address it at that time. This surgeon wants to do a bronchoscopy to make sure a Lobectomy is possible. If the tumor is protruding out of the right upper lobe and onto the mainstem by 2 cm then a Pneumonectomy is what will have to be done.