Tenille Bryanton Rare Cancer Diagnosis

LETS MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR TENILLE AND FAMILY!!

 

Tenille and Adam Bryanton were high school sweethearts, who married 5 years ago and are the proud and loving parents of two adorable little girls, Harlow (age 4) and Averie (age 20 months). Tenille is a proud employee of Conexus Credit Union in Regina and Adam is a journeyman mechanic at Hyundai Regina.

 

Tenille began feeling lethargic this fall and while her family doctor was running blood tests, it wasn't until Thanksgiving weekend, when Tenille went to emergency with severe abdominal pain that the problem was found.

 

Tenille was diagnosed on October 10 with a large tumour in her abdomen and suspicious spots on her liver. A CT scan revealed the tumour had ulcerated her stomach wall. While Dr's looked for a definitive cancer diagnosis, Tenille was in hospital receiving blood and iron transfusions in an attempt to strengthen her red blood cell count. That battle continued throughout October and Tenille was referred to a medical oncologist in Saskatoon for surgery. 

Surgery took place November 7th and while we expected she would lose part or perhaps all of her stomach, the surgery was much more extensive due to the spread of the cancer around major organs and throughout her abdomen. They removed part of her stomach, her spleen, part of her pancreas and her transverse colon. Fortunately she recovered very well from the surgery but it was very clear this was an aggressive cancer given how it had spread even in the month since she first ended up in emergency.  

 

Pathology has now confirmed the diagnosis of an extremely rare and incurable cancer -

Inflammatory Myrofibroblastic Tumour, of which there are fewer than 200 cases in North America each year. In fact Tenille is believed to be the first patient ever diagnosed with IMT in Saskatchewan.

 

As a result there is no clear confirmed treatment path as clinical drug treatment trials have very few patients to work with. It was determined she would spend a few weeks recovering from surgery and meet with an oncologist on Dec 17th.

 

Just two weeks after surgery however Tenille was back in hospital dealing with nausea and dropping hemoglobin levels and another CT scan showed tumour regrowth in her abdomen. Treatment could not wait any longer and she began taking Crizotinin on Dec 9. A targeted cancer cell inhibitor, this is a drug treatment that has worked on some patients to slow tumour growth and even send some patients to remission. We are praying it also works for Tenille.

 

At this time Tenille will continue treatment and recovery at home with Adam and their little girls, taking each day as the gift it is. They have a long hard and uncertain road ahead. To assist them with the costs of treatment, consultation with the Mayo Clinic, and support services we are hoping to raise funds to support this beautiful young family.