Zach McCulloch Update - 4/18/2006 - Birthday Pics and Next Week

Zach had a wonderful birthday!!

Please see the updated photos and particularly the cake that was sent by the Zabicki's, Roman and Laura. Paula made a great cake but she agrees that what Roman and Laura sent was just out of this world. I would need to get out a thesaurus to enlist in word all the superlatives that this cake deserves. Chicago Bears for Zach all the time....

They also have let us draw on the strength of their son Danny and his "bite me cancer" attitude. Danny could not be defeated by cancer in any way shape or form. He took the lessons instilled in him by his parents and magnified them 100 fold during his all to brief stay with us here outside the eternal kingdom. We know this because they shared their love and heart with more people than you can imagine. Just look at the pictures.

1st phase of treatment for this 3rd treatment regimine starts next week. 5 days of radiation that will hit this tumor hard and send it to where it belongs (dead).

Love,

Kevin, Paula, James, Zachary, Gage and Sierra (Makes you understand that beauty is visible from the outside but sure radiates from within, much like her mother).

Zach McCulloch Update - 4/15/2006 - Happy Birthday Zach!

Today Zach turned 19 at 11:57 AM.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON!!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

Will update again soon with some pictures....

Today has been a very good day for us however, there are other families that have been getting some challenging news and need some prayer, Bella, Ty Michael, Nick Brower and Matt Meiners.

Love,

Kevin, Paula, James, Zachary, Gage and Sierra(who reminds me that being the girl is no big deal!!)

Zach McCulloch Update - 4/8/2009 - Update

Well, we have been through an interesting 4 weeks. It included a 5 day hospital stay for infection, many scans including a pet scan and ultimately a biopsy done via needle and ct guided to determine the pathology.

The pet scan came back negative and the CT and MRI came back positive. The only thing that matters though is the biopsy and this was positive for rhabdo and return of tumor. So now, we have the following course of action.

Radiation, we meet with Zach's radiologist/oncologist tomorrow to determine dose and number of treatments.

Surgery to resect the tumor(again) and hopefully gain control.

Chemotherapy...but this is tough it has not been decided whether Zach will enter a trial in the adult oncology world (more in the next update), Temador (new for Zach) and Irrinotecan (had before) or Cytoxan and Vinorelbine but the addtion of Avastan at some point.

This really sucks that Zach has to go through this again. He has been through 2 long regimines already and we fear a 3rd more than I can ever express. Zach is tough but even this turn of events can test the toughest of us all.

I will try and update more thoroughly later. Right now, we are trying to keep depression outside of our home and be grateful that we are here together (as much as you can be with 4 active teenagers, even one with cancer who still wants to live life as full as he can).

Zachary turns 19 in one more week. The blessing is that we will be able to celebrate another birthday together.

Good Friday is soon here.......

Love,

Kevin, Paula, James, Zachary, Gage and Sierra(a true beauty and smart to boot!!!)