Answers!

One day, shortly after returning from our trip to California, I was doing my usual internet research and I stumbled onto a hospital website. The words "We specialize in the surgery/treatment of spinal cord tumors" jumped out a me! This was something new, something I'd never seen before! It was Beth Israel Hospital, Singer Division, in New York City. On the home page, there was a tab that said "Contact Us," and so I did. In my message, I included Daniel's history and diagnosis and said his tumor was an inoperable PNET (or medulloblastoma) in the spinal cord. I included my email address. I was prepared for nothing except another closed door, as this was the third prestigious hospital we had contacted for help and information. We had already sent Daniel's MRI's and other medical documents, including his pathology report, to both Cedar Sinai and Loma Linda University Hospitals. They had replied with a "No, We are sorry to inform you that we are unable to provide your son with surgical help or treatment."

To my amazement, I received a response from Beth Israel the same day, in the form of an email from Dr. Karl Kothbauer, neurosurgeon. He said he was very interested in helping us. He said, quite directly, that so far there had never been a spinal cord tumor he could not operate on! He also said something that jolted me, but did not really surprise me at this point in time - he doubted our son had the kind of tumor we were told he had. If he had, then not only would the tumor have grown much more rapidly, but it also would have caused great neurological damage, especially a tumor as large as his. Highly cancerous tumors invade the healthy tissue around them. In Daniel's case, this means that his tumor would have grown into his healthy nerves and caused great motor and nerve damage. He would not be able to walk and/or move his arms normally. You can imagine my consternation at his quick and very knowledgeable assessment. Why had we not been told that before by the neurosurgeons at Emanuel?

He requested we ship him Daniel's MRI films as soon as possible. These films were already in our possession, as the 2 hospitals I mentioned earlier had shipped them back to us. I immediately drove to a FedEx store about 45 minutes away from our home, and overnighted them. As soon as Dr. Kothbauer received the package, he looked at the MRI's and sent me another email. His email contained information that I could hardly take in - in fact, when I showed Wes the email, he could not believe it at first! Dr. Kothbauer said, "Daniel's tumor looks like a non-cancerous, slow growing kind of tumor. It is very cystic (has lots of cysts), a classic characteristic of most tumors found in the spinal cord. Close to 90% of spinal cord tumors are non-cancerous. However, Daniel's tumor is dangerously close to the brainstem. I have operated extensively on spinal cord tumors and am confident I could largely remove, or at the very least, de-bulk it. Can I give you a call and talk to you or your husband on the phone?"

We received this email on a Thursday. On Saturday morning, Dr. Kothbauer called our home phone and talked to Wes. He told Wes in no uncertain terms, "If you want your son to live, you need to bring him here. But first, let my staff contact your insurance company to make sure the surgery and stay is covered. I will call you back on Monday." We contacted our friend, Jeff, who had been running Daniel's website, and he immediately posted this information to the site. Our family had a very special wedding to attend that day, Dave and Rayma Barnhart's - in fact, Wes was "marrying" them. At about 6:00 p.m., during the reception, we got a call from Jeff. He said, "3 first class tickets have been donated to you. But here's the catch - the flight leaves at 6:00 tomorrow morning (Sunday)!" Wes and I discussed it briefly with one another at the reception, and then we said in unison, "OK! Let's go home and pack!"

We had just enough time to do laundry, arrange to have relatives keep Brooke and Elijah, and pack, before getting a few hours of sleep. Very early Sunday morning, we kissed and hugged Brooke and Elijah several times and dropped them off with Grandma and Grandpa in Newberg, and headed to the airport. Nothing is ever as easy as it sounds, right? A major "complication/opportunity for God to show His power" occurred even before the plane had taken off. To be continued....