February 13, 2012

Dear Friends,

UPDATE: Michael went into surgery at 6:30am, and the two surgeries lasted about seven hours. The first surgeon removed a large portion of the cancer outside of Michael’s spine. The second surgeon was not able to remove all of the cancer in and surrounding the spine, but he did get the majority of it. Unfortunately, the remaining cancer was liquid and attached to the nerve. The ideal neuroblastoma tumor would be very hard, so you could pop it out like a golf ball. That was not the case with Michael’s remaining tumor. The surgeon could not remove any more because it would damage the nerve, and cause some loss of motor function. Also, the consistency of the tumor means that it is metabolically active and will continue to spread unless they do further treatment, such as high dose chemotherapy and MIBG therapy. But this surgery bought them a little time to let Michael recover before they begin more treatment.

Michael is now in ICU, where he will be until he stabilizes a little more. He has two lines in his hands, a catheter, and a drainage tube on his left side. As soon as he is strong enough, they will go into this left eye orbit and attempt to remove as much of that cancer as possible. Unfortunately, this means having to make an incision on his scalp, and peel his skin back to get into his left eye. And they expect that the cancer there is similar to the spinal tumor. However, there is no way to know anything with certainty until they operate.

Michael was surrounded by many loving friends and family members today and all weekend. His kindergarten classmates and teachers made many, many trips to the hospital, and the Malones especially want to thank their out of town family and friends for traveling so far to sit with Alison and Mike while they waited for results today. Today was a very difficult day, but the family felt the support of you all. We received calls and messages from around the country. THANK YOU! No act is unappreciated.

The Malones also want to thank everyone for the outpouring of cards and video messages. Michael loves them! His kindergarten class pitched in and bought Michael a new iPad and set up an email address for him. So he spent a good part of the weekend watching video messages from friends and family, both near and far away. It was an incredible gesture. And for those of you who would like to send Michael a video or an email, his new email address (chosen by his teacher!) is [email protected] (Mr. Class President!).

Something else that is motivating Michael to get better right now is an upcoming run/walk for neuroblastoma in Ft. Worth. The Malones have set up a Team Michael Malone group, and would love for anyone and everyone to join them in the run (or walk!), or donate to the event, which helps fund neuroblastoma research. Here is the link: http://www.nbwalk.org/2012Walk/teammichaelmalone For those of you who are interested in helping out with meals, here is the link for the meal calendar. If you have any questions about that, you can email Kelley Schadt at [email protected].

To access Alison & Mike Malone’s personal CareCalendar site, visit http://www.carecalendar.org/logon/102939and enter the following information in the appropriate spaces:

CALENDAR ID: 102939
SECURITY CODE : 9622

Lastly, due to the enormous amount of pain Michael is experiencing from surgery, the family is requesting limited visitation and no children at this time. Michael is in ICU and it is important he is able to heal quickly and prepare for the next surgery on his left eye orbit. Please coordinate your visits with either the family or me.

PRAYER REQUETS: Please pray for a speedy recovery for Michael in preparation for the next surgery. Please pray that the remaining cancer on the spine will not spread quickly. Pray for the tumor in the left eye orbit, that it too will not spread this week during recovery and for the surgeons as they prepare for the next surgery. Continue to lift the family up and ask for peace, comfort, strength and wisdom as they make decisions for Michael and move forward in his treatment. Praise the Lord he did not have to have a fusion of the spine today and that there was no breathing tube when he woke up.

In Hope,
Evelyn Costolo
214.683.8511