Love for Duane

**EVERYTHING WAS WRITTEN BELOW BY MY BROTHER, DAVE LIM - DUANE'S DAD**



LOVE FOR DUANE

Duane Marius Lim is my eldest son, born on July 30th, 2005. He's now 10. Duane is a loving, sweet and smart kid who loves academics over anything else. I remember I had to have him choose between basketball varsity and spelling bee due to training schedule conflicts - He chose the latter and won 3rd place in a 40-school spelling battle. Furthermore, he is blossoming into a great role model for his younger brother, Desmond and to a lot other kids of his age.

Now, he lies inside the ICU, unconscious, while his illness is taking over his life. It crushes my heart how this poor kid have to suffer. I cannot help but ask myself "Why it has to be him?"

But there is HOPE..



HOW IT STARTED

It was around the 3rd week of March when Duane started to complain about headaches - We had to visit the hospital for 6 times between March 19th and 28th trying to figure out the root cause of the problem. I can still remember the doc's words from the 28th "Let us finish the 5-day course of the antibiotics and see if it improves the situation". Unfortunately, we never got the chance to do that.

On March 30th, Duane exhibited short term memory loss which compelled us to bring him to the ER.. We also learned that he can no longer see anything with his left eye at that point. He was also starting to sleep a lot. He was admitted that night.. and we never left the hospital since.


FIRST DIAGNOSIS

Craniopharyngioma - a type of brain tumor derived from pituitary gland embryonic tissue, that occurs most commonly in children but also in men and women in their 50s and 60s.was the first diagnosis. (Wikipedia)

The initial CT Scans / MRI showed a mass of 3cm around the pituitary area and the initial recommendation was to perform an open brain surgery to relieve pressure and possibly restore Duane to normal functions.

Before the surgery had to be carried out, a lot of tests needs to be made to make sure Duane was in optimum condition for the operation. But one test result changed everything...


FINAL DIAGNOSIS

The BT HCG test had a "normal range" of 0-5. Duane's values were over 16,000, which confirms that it was not a benign Craniopharyngioma.

What he really has is Nongerminomatous Germ Cell Tumors - A rare and fast growing malignant tumor which grows on the central nervous system. Further information can be found here: http://www.cancer.gov/types/brain/hp/child-cns-germ-cell-treatment-pdq


UPDATES

April 20th, 2016 - Duane has just been transferred to the ICU. He has been unresponsive since yesterday but we are keeping the Faith and our Hopes very high.

The first cycle of Chemotherapy has been administered completely as of last Saturday, April 16th.

At this point, we are clueless on what is going to happen in the next few days. He has lost both eyesight, his new memory imprint capability and his wakefulness.


GOAL

Duane's treatment will include Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy. Stem Cell Transplant could also be considered. These things are not cheap and I admit that our family is far from being capable of providing the financials alone.

As a parent, I cannot simply accept defeat and just watch the illness take Duane's life slowly. I have to fight and I have to act fast.

I now humbly ask for your support. Whether you choose to donate or share this page, you would forever have our family's gratitude.

Thank you and God bless you.


#LoveforDuane #AllforDuane