Good News from St. Jude's

Finally a posting with some good news. Drew had his first visit this week at St. Jude's in Memphis, Tennessee. There were no Elvis sightings:) It was a lot of meetings and new faces, and the most wonderful people you could ask for to treat Drew. They were top notch, and always so caring about Drew and how he handled things. Dr. Wilson, his new, retina specialist is exceptional in every aspect. He is very confident, direct and amazingly knowledgeable. We feel he is in the right hands again. A summary of Dr. Wilson's assessment of Drew:

• He has two active tumors in his right eye. We were only aware of one last month. Dr. Wilson was able to treat it with a special green laser. He indicated he was not surprised the equipment in MN was not able to get it. Apparently being a white Blondie (someone with little pigment in his skin), it is hard to get the tumor with the type of laser they had in MN. This type of laser relies on pigment to get good uptake on the tumor. The special new laser machine at St. Jude's works better on kids of his descent.
• His left eye has a vitreous seed that is still quiet. He doesn't see any activity, but wants to watch it closely. He said with Blondie kids it is looking at white on white, which makes it difficult to spot a tumor. He will keep a close eye on it for a flare up.
• At this time he feels we can save both eyes, and maybe gain some vision back in the left eye. He said it depends on how hard we are willing to work at it and the effort we put in. He won't get his 20/20 vision back, but can have strong exterior vision. This is very good news. He wants us to start patching the eye to strengthen the vision. This will help with keeping the eyes symmetrical too.
• St. Jude's will now be his primary care physicans for his cancer. They will work with the oncology group at the U of M for our needs in between trips. We will go back in three weeks for another look,vision assessment and meet the oncology doctor (who was in Vienna this week). At this time he thinks he can control the tumors with the green laser. He understands the importance of preserving the vision, and will take no risks with the right eye. If needed he can control it with a plaque treatment. We

We were really impressed with everyone at St. Jude's and are very optimistic about the care he will receive in the future. We are very grateful to the people at the U of M for everything they have done for him in the past. We appreciate their willingness to continue to work as a team with St. Jude's to provide the best care for Drew.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!