Support David Carbonneau in His Fight Against Glioblastoma

With the permission of David and Kris Carbonneau and with the help of First Congregational Church in Melrose, I’m setting up this fundraising page to support David Carbonneau (or “Mr. Carbonneau” to his students) in his battle with brain cancer.

After having several mild seizures on the last day of school this past June, David was hospitalized and later underwent two brain surgeries for a lesion which was diagnosed as glioblastoma. David subsequently underwent 6 weeks of daily chemoradiation to shrink the tumor that could not be totally removed. While these methods have been effective in treating the initial tumor, unfortunately, glioblastoma has a high recurrence rate. After much research, his wife Kris found a promising vaccine that is administered by a treatment center in Germany and designed to stimulate an immune reaction to cancer using a patient’s DNA. The vaccine has been available in Germany for almost 10 years and has shown very promising results for most patients with strong immunity response. Although Dana Farber is currently researching a similar vaccine, it is not yet available in the US. The good news is David’s DNA and the tumor showed a strong match making him an excellent immunity candidate for the antigen-peptide treatment. The vaccine development is individualized and associated treatments will cost over $95,000 which is not covered by insurance. In addition, all treatments are required to be administered in Germany so David will need to travel to Germany ten times for treatment in the coming year beginning in January.

To allow David and Kris to concentrate on healing, a group of friends have come together to raise some of the money needed for this important treatment. First Congregational Church is also raising money for this important mission. 100% of the collected funds will go directly to David's treatment.

Your support will make a real difference in David’s fight against glioblastoma. Thank you for helping us give him the best chance for long term recovery.