Chris' Fight against Glioblastoma

Chris' Fight against Glioblastoma

My brother Chris is 46 years old. He is the oldest of 3 and has a daughter named Claire, our 8 year old niece.

He was also just diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

Chris was experiencing horrible headaches. So much so, that he would barrel down in pain for 10-15 minutes at a time and as quickly as it started, the pain would be gone. After dealing with this for several months, he went to the family doc who arranged for an MRI.

The day after the MRI, he was at work when he received a call to return to the hospital to discuss the results of the MRI. On that faithful day in February, he was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
(please, if you are experiencing any unusual headaches, go get them checked out)
On that Monday he was admitted to hospital and on Thursday he had the biopsy.
He began Radiation and Chemo almost immediately He gained a crazy amount of weight (because of the steroids) and is now back home with mom and dad to help take care of him. (this was a giant blow to his self esteem)
The doc's were very certain that his brain tumour may limit him in some ways but were happy to announce that it was passive and should not give him much trouble for a solid 15-20 years.

They were wrong...

Perhaps they weren't wrong. Maybe they weren't entirely truthful. Maybe we wouldn't have wanted to hear it anyway.

Thirty days after going through 30 rounds of radiation and 42 days of oral chemo therapy, Chris has an MRI which showed that the tumour had shrunk. Everyone was really happy with the news.
In October, Chris had another MRI and things had changed significantly. Chris was put back on a high dose of chemo. In November he underwent another MRI which showed an increase in activity, all bad. The tumour had grown from Oct - Nov by 6cm and has also crossed from the left frontal lobe to the right side of his brain.
There is no cure. There are no operation options. If they operate, it could cause severe brain damage as he has stage 2 Gioblastoma. For anyone Canadian following this post, I will reference Gord Downie. Unfortunately, they share the same disease.

They suspect he will have 12 months (give or take)

As for now, he is living ignorant bliss not really comprehending what is going on. As the tumor being on the left Frontal Lobe, it has affected his personality, short term memory and moods. We are not sure he fully understands what is happening. The neurosurgeon said that this is a blessing.
We will suffer his pain fully and aware.

We need your help.

Your funds will help my brother. How?
He is unemployed as he cannot work due to the Brain Tumour.
We want Claire to spend quality time with him doing things they love together and not feel limited to spending. We aren't asking for a million dollars. We want to plan a family vacation to Disney.

We need your help to help us make our family trip to Disney possible.

He has the time now and he is able to travel. We want him to get as much joy from his life as he can, however, being unable to work we need help.

Anything you can possibly donate would be amazing and fully appreciated.

This will be his/our last major family vacation.

Further to this, any donations collected above and beyond will go to Claire in trust of my father who will ensure it goes to an RESP for College or University.

Thank you so much for taking your time to read our story.
And please, if you are experiencing any unusual headaches, get it looked at as soon as you can.
We don't know if it would have helped, but it could possibly save you.

Sent with love and hope and a little desperation,
Tamara and Dan (Sister and Brother in Law)
Alex and Easton (God Son and Nephew)
Lasha and Jessica Dudar (Sister and niece)
Michael and Mary Dudar (Mom and Dad)