We have had an amazing couple of weeks! Lots of updates!!

Firstly, we welcomed our son Jack Louis Dessureault into the world on June 30th weighing 5.1lbs. He was born at 32 1/2 weeks and is doing very well! He should be able to come home in a week or two. The staff at the NICU has been so fantastic and is taking great care of him while he gets stronger.  We are completely in love and so thankful that he was born early without any complications!

The Happy Parents

We had some more great news this week! I had my follow-up scans and found that the cancer has shrunk! I was originally not a candidate for radiation due to the size of the tumours but since it has shrunk enough, I am now a candidate to start combination treatment of radiation and chemotherapy! This is seen as a “curative” treatment and just knowing that a cure is possible is the best news! It will be a difficult couple of months but remain optimistic that I will defy “statistics” and beat this!

In also sent my tissue to Foundation Medicine in the US to be tested for 315 genetic markers. These genetic abnormalities have certain targeted therapies and medications that can actually stop the cancer from spreading or shrink it! I found out today that I am part of the 1% that tested positive for ROS-1!!! I now have another option for treatment and am SO thankful that I have a marker! The drug that is used to target ROS-1 NSCLC (and that I would need) was actually approved in Canada on the day that I was diagnosed with cancer (how crazy is that?!). My oncologist will determine what our best plan of attack is and decide this week. Whether we use the targeted therapy now or later, it is SO reassuring to know that we have that option! We have had so many WINS these past couple of weeks that we are just over the moon!