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HELP, HOPE AND TREATMENT FOR
BILE DUCT CANCER
or
CHOLANGIOCARCINOMA
(medical name)
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Updated 02/06/09
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DEDICATION
This web site is dedicated to Dr. Gregory Gores (Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic Hepatology Department), Dr. Charles Rosen (Surgical Director of the Mayo Clinic Hepatology Department), and the entire team of Health Care professionals at Mayo Clinic who saved my life. Also, I can’t leave out my wife, family and friends, who without their support I would not have had the strength to sustain my will to live. |
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The Mayo Clinic Staff receives thousands of cookies, cards, and other gifts, I thought a website was more appropriate. I wanted to give those who suffer from any disease HOPE, and the realization that with it, miracles are possible. No one knows their destiny. Research out your options in life. Take time for prayer (anyplace, anytime you feel a need), be your own advocate and enjoy life every day. |
THERE IS HOPE
This website information was designed to help those individuals who face a rare and fatal disease, Bile Duct Cancer or by its medical name Cholangiocarocinoma. On September 5, 2000, I was diagnosed with Bile Duct Cancer and given 3 to 6 months to live. Today, however, I am celebrating my eight year transplant anniversary cancer free.
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I was fortunate enough to find Dr. Gregory Gores at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and receive a liver transplant after undergoing strict medical protocol which included preoperative irradiation and chemotherapy. Mayo Clinic is the only place on earth approved to give liver transplants for this disease by UNOS (United Organ Sharing Network). My cancer had not spread to other organs, or I would have been ineligible for the transplant. |
HOW I FOUND DR. GORES AND MAYO CLINIC
In the summer of 2000, I had faced various symptoms (extreme fatigue, jaundice, itching, weight loss, and diarrhea) for months. Finally diagnosed on September 5, 2000 with bile duct cancer, I was given 3-6 months to live. Doctors at my local hospital in Evansville, Indiana diagnosed me and referred me to Indiana University (IU) Hospital. On my 45th birthday, IU doctors opened me up for resection (which basically means that they would cut the cancer out), only to find that I was unresectable (which means that the cancer was located in areas that I could not live without). At the IU Hospital, doctors stated that I needed a liver transplant to live but would never get one for this disease. IU Hospital is a teaching hospital; I awoke everyday with six or seven students and a doctor looking at me. I was assigned one student, but it apparently wasn’t in the IU protocol for anyone to research out new procedures or advances on the internet. I was in fact given external stents and pain medication and sent home to die from the IU Hospital. |
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Doctors told me to not go on the internet seeking information, because it might raise false hopes.
Being a good union member of the United Mine Workers (UMWA), I have always questioned things. While waiting for my inevitable death, I researched my disease on the internet and found a press release from Mayo Clinic written by several doctors including Dr. Gregory Gores. (View it here by downloading the PDF file Press Release.) My family quickly sent my medical information to Mayo and I had an appointment the next week. |
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I am here today because of the Dr. Gores and Mayo Clinic Staff. |
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BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE
I was raised in a small community of 3,500. Many people especially from small communities think places like Mayo are only for the well to do, and most never seek out other information or medical care. I encourage everyone reading this to be your own health advocate by researching out your options! You or your health insurance company pays relatively the same money for your healthcare. Why wouldn’t you want the best care?
Regardless of your diagnosis, seek out your options and do your own research, as things change everyday in the medical world. Dr. Gores and the many caring healthcare professionals have given me life I never thought I would ever get. Life isn’t perfect but I thank God for giving me each day. |
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