Welcome to Kevin's Hope!
Contact:kevinshope4acure@gmail.com.
Check out our current BLOG tab at the top
Quick Summary:
2 years ago an MRI at Children's Hospital revealed something we had never heard of before:
Myxopapillary Ependymomas......
Rare cancerous tumors inside our son's spinal cord, pressing on his spinal nerves.
In a million years, we would never expect our athletic and healthy young son to have such a disease.
Kevin was amazingly brave as he went through two risky spinal cord surgeries. We praise God for His care of Kevin.
The surgeon removed a 5 inch tumor (the size of a hotdog) and 2 smaller tumors from inside his spinal cord region. Kevin also had 8 laminectomies performed (removal of a portion of the vertebraes from his spine) so they could get to the tumors.
For 2 years the MRI's have been clear, but now a new tumor has been detected in his spine.
For 2 years we studied and researched options so we would know exactly what to do if the cancer ever returned.
Chemo is not successful for this type of cancer. The remaining options are more surgery (more bone removal/laminectomies) and/or radiation to the full brain and spine. Even with those aggressive treatments....this type of cancer can still return.
Over and over again we heard about Dr. S. Burzynski in Houston, Texas and his very successful cancer treatment...even for people with advanced Grade 3 and 4 cancers.
We talked with many parent's whose children's lives were saved by this treatment. Many of them had previously been through major surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy, but the cancer returned..so they reached out to Dr. Burzynski as a last resort.
If possible, we wanted this treatment to be a "first resort" and not a "last resort".
This non toxic therapy, even with it's high success rate, is not covered under insurance and is extremely expensive (over $150,000) We are grateful to God to have found this option and are determined to provide Kevin with a treatment that is safe, effective, and has the least long term side effects. The FDA approved Kevin for this treatment...the research used during his care will pave the way for other children or adults with cancer.
We are so very grateful for your interest in praying and/or donating to Kevin's care. We know you work hard for your money, and you have your own family and your own children and needs to care for. But we also know the power of prayer, and what can be accomplished by compassionate people.
All donations are extremely appreciated and are strictly intended for Kevin's full recovery.
We will be updating this page often. We welcome you to continue to check out our site.
Blessings and THANK YOU from our family,
Brian Ross (Dad), Kathy Ross (Mom),
Kevin & Lauren (big sis).
Email: kzrkata@aol.com
Links:
Myxopapillary Ependymoma (quick link):
http://wiki.cns.org/wiki/index.php/Myxopapillary_ependymoma
Ependymoma info here (quick summary):
(http://www.cern-foundation.org/Content.aspx?id=576)
The Burzynski Clinic in Texas.
(http://www.burzynskiclinic.com/)
(http://www.burzynskiresearch.com/)
We recently helped gather 5000 signatures for the White House so that this non toxic treatment may someday be available as a mainstream option for all and covered under insurance for future patients:
Fascinated with this treatment, Dr. Burzynski's success and why it's not covered under insurance? Even if you watch the first 10 minutes of this, you will learn so much......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0ibsoqjPac