战斗肾髓质癌和我的兄弟

2012年4月19日，我家的生活彻底改变了。这时候，我的弟弟，赫尔曼，被确诊为肾髓质癌，是rare kidney cancer与镰状细胞性状相关。

从我的兄弟接受了他的诊断的那一刻，我答应我会为他而战。这是我努力保持一个承诺。

赫尔曼的肾髓质癌的诊断
Months before his renal medullary carcinoma diagnosis, Herman started experiencing back pain. He'd been healthy his entire life and thought it may have been a pulled muscle.

但当他看到血的痕迹在他的尿,他knew something was wrong. He drove to the emergency room and got an X-ray. It showed a mass inside his kidney. The doctor said it looked like cancer, but he'd have to follow up with a urologist to confirm. After several weeks of testing, the biopsy came back positive for renal medullary carcinoma. Herman planned to undergo treatment at a hospital near our hometown in South Carolina. His tumor was resistant to chemotherapy, so his doctors said they'd have to remove his kidney.

But days before the surgery, the doctors canceled. They told Herman there was nothing they could do for him. The news was devastating. Our family felt so hopeless.

Coming to MD Anderson for Herman's renal medullary carcinoma treatment
我们致力于拯救哥哥的生命，所以我们开始寻找另一家医院。这时候，我们发现MD安德森。这是1000多英里远，但距离很值得我们。

Herman's doctor,尼扎尔M. Tannir，医学博士, was committed from the first day that we stepped into his office. Every two to three weeks, we flew back to Texas. Herman underwent six cycles of cytotoxic chemotherapy. Then, in October 2012, he had surgery to remove part of his right kidney. Following surgery, he began chemotherapy again. He finished treatment in April 2014.

I strived to be there every step of the way.

Last year, Herman was declared cancer-free. He now returns to MD Anderson every three months for follow-up appointments.

'Anything is possible'
Herman has always been private, and I try to respect that. I try not to bring up his treatment unless he wants to talk about it. Sometimes being a caregiver means just listening. We don't always have to offer our opinions.

I know that not everyone has been as blessed and fortunate as Herman. Thanks to Dr. Tannir and the wonderful and relentless staff at MD Anderson, I, too, have become a champion for finding a cure for this disease.

我现在志愿者myCancerConnection，MD安德森的一对，一个支持项目，连接患者和医护人员幸存者一直在那里谁。当我跟其他护理人员和患者，我听他们的故事，分享我自己的经验。我试着给他们希望。我知道，希望当你面对癌症是多么重要。

我也开始了我自己的非营利性组织，约肾髓质癌提高认识。我希望钱，我们提高可以帮助Tannir博士和他的研究小组发现这种疾病的治疗。如果我们已经学到了什么，在过去几年中，它是人类的同情心无国界和一切皆有可能。

当赫尔曼被确诊，我答应我会为他而战。即使是现在，他的无癌，这是一个承诺，我仍然保持。

To connect with other cancer patients and caregivers through myCancerConnection, please call 800-345-6324 orvisit myCancerConnection online。