Update on Esther

Dear Friends,

Late last night, the doctors told us that the pathology was back on both the biopsy on the lungs and the original tumor. First, the lung biopsy was positive. That is to say that the nodes on the lungs (both lungs) are cancerous. As we suspected, they have staged the cancer as stage 4 with metastasis. The type of cancer is a cancer called medulloepithelioma. It is an EXTREMELY rare cancer and is considered a cancer of the central nervous system. This type of cancer, when it is found, is normally found in the eyes or brain. There are extremely few instances of this cancer being in the abdominal cavity. As a result of the rareness of this cancer, the doctors cannot give us a prognosis, nor is there an established treatment protocol. There have been a few cases (10 or less) of this cancer. The doctors here will be talking with the doctors that have treated this cancer before to see what they faced
and how they treated it. The doctors here will be running a series of tests (MRI, Spinal tap, bone scan, echocardio exam, ekg and bone marrow) to see if we can determine if the cancer has spread beyond the lungs. We appreciate your prayers as we will need to make some hard decisions regarding treatment, chemotherapy, etc within the next few days. We appreciate your prayers as we go through this difficult time.

For Souls, Daniel Elliott Your Missionaries to Mongolia www.danielelliottfamily.us