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Daniel's Story
An Arizona's boys story of faith, hope, courage and survival from
a Pilocytic Astrocytoma Brainstem Tumor…
Daniel is a very active 7 year old who enjoys
rock-climbing, biking, swimming and riding his scooter. He even tried
"sheep riding" at a local rodeo. He also enjoys playing, learning
and is a good friend.
Daniel had always been right-handed. Then he began using his left hand for
writing. We thought maybe he really is left-handed. Daniel continued writing
with both his left and right hand switching back and forth. In May of 2002 during an eye examination, the doctor
noticed Daniel was unable to follow an object upward ,
had no reaction to light and tilted his head to the right when he walked.
These symptoms prompted him to order a MRI before writing Daniel an eyeglass
prescription.
After researching Daniel's symptoms on the Internet, we suspected the
horrifying reality that our son may have a tumor. So we brought him to a
local Emergency Room requesting a CAT scan of his head. The results came
back within an hour, and we were told that our son had a Brain Tumor located
on the midbrain about 2 inches behind his eyes. A MRI confirmed the tumor
was located in an area that surgeons considered a very dangerous place to
operate, a place where breathing and heartbeat are controlled.
Rivers of tears flowed coast to coast when all learned of Daniel's illness.
Many questioned how this could happen to a boy who looked so healthy and was
filled with so much energy. He had just graduated from Preschool.
A Neurosurgeon on staff at Phoenix Children's Hospital offered some hope
through Stereotactic Endoscopic Surgery. Daniel began visiting with a Child
Life Specialist to learn why he was in the hospital. On the morning of his
surgery all Daniel could say was "Call my doctor,
I want to go to surgery." Within two hours of this miraculous
surgery, Daniel was speaking and even regained his appetite.
Daniel was showing excellent signs of recovery a month after his surgery, but then a follow up MRI showed significant re-growth of
his Astrocytoma tumor almost to it's original size. We
were told that Daniel was going to die and to get into Radiation right away. Daniel
was then put into Radiation treatment for six weeks. It was a difficult time
for all of us.
Six months later, we learned of Poly-MVA through Gary Matson. Gary brought compassion,
understanding and hope to our lives as we tried to only imagine what the near
future held for our little boy.
Through it all, we learned a new way of life. We live each day to see Daniel
and his sister, Rachel smile and to see others smile. 80% of children with Brainstem tumors die within two years.
Our son is a survivor, A Poly-MVA Survivor.
We are here to tell you that Daniel is alive today because God led us to
AMARC, Dr. Sanchez, Gary & Tim Matson. These are men that live their
lives to make other cancer patients and their families smile. It's because of
the pain they endured with losing a loved one to cancer, that they have
dedicated themselves to serving others by providing information about the
benefits of using Poly-MVA. The people in this company are real, the research
by Dr. Merrill Garnett is compelling and the stories are true. Dr. Frank
Antonawich's research on Stroke and Brain Ischemia is quite impressive.
Today, Daniel's tumor is inactive due to necrosis
and there has been "no growth" since taking Poly-MVA.
The post-radiation side effects are more manageable because of Poly-MVA. He
takes 5 ml's 4 times/daily with Q-Gels (Co-Q10) from AMARC. Daniel continues
to show remarkable improvement with rebuilding strength in his right leg, arm
and hand through physical and occupational therapies.
Larry & Diana Ricker, Parents
Email: RickerFamily1@yahoo.com
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