sister\'s diagnosis

My sister who is 42 yrs was dignosed with stage 1V breast cancer in Aug. (mets to liver and bones - spine ribs hip arm and pelvis). After FLEK (not sure of the initials!) " she went into what they term ""controlled remission"". Needless to say" we celebrated! At the time I had gone with her to meet the ongologist and asked why she was not going on Herceptin (she is her2 positive). He said that she would go on that later if needed. Two weeks ago she was told that cancer has now spread to her brain - many leisons they said. Her radiologist presumming to be God told her that she would live 2 to 6 months. We are devastated as are her three children and husband. How can this be..in this day and age????
Anyway she has finished up 5 sessions of whole brain radiation and will start Taxol with Herceptin shortly after. We are wondering about the procedure of Gamma Knife Radiosurgery. Does anyone know where they are doing this in Canada? Because they said that she has several clusters of tumors is this a possibility? We are also trying to get the doctors to begin her Chemo immediately rather than waiting until May 17. I know that miracles happen everyday...I pray for all you brave survivors and that my sister too will be one.

Dear Celina "

I am so sorry to hear about your sister's condition. I have a few thoughts on how to obtain additional information on your issue.

1. The cross-link below will take you to the international radiosurgery association (IRSA) website radiosurgery overview. You may want to contact his association for additional information relating to Canada. Be aware that the ""centers of excellence"" tab information at the irsa website does not include Canada.

2. Contact the Brain Tumor Foundation of Canada. The website address for Canadian resources is http://www.braintumour.ca/braintumour.nsf/...icles.

3. I did notice that the following centers in Canada seem to specialize in brain tumors:

Toronto-Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre (http://www.tsrcc.on.ca/stereotactic.htm)

Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre (www.sickkids.on.ca/btrc/default.asp)

Gerry and Nancy Pencer Brain Tumor Centre
(www.uhn.ca/programs/pencer/index.asp)

Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital
(www.mni.mcgill.ca)

Please be aware that you can perform internet searches with the terms ""GammaKnife"" and ""CyberKnife"" and ""LINAC"" to find additional information. I too had difficuty finding Canadian locations for sterotactic surgery using the equipment manufacturers' websites.

If all else fails" I will provide another post below that contain a cross-link to board certified neurosurgeons in Canada. You may one to contact one or more of these doctors and discuss appropriate treatment locations with them.

I hope this information is helpful.

Celina

The cross-link below should take you to a list of board certified neurosurgeons in Canada. I found the listing at www.NeurosurgeryToday.org. If you contact one or more of these doctors I'm sure that they will be able to provide information regarding the best radiosurgery treatment centers in Canada. I hope this information helps.

Celina "

The cross-link above will take you to the board certified search menu. Simply place the word ""canada"" in the box designated ""country" " and press the search button. Do not fill in any other information in the search menu other than the country. It should result in a six page list of board certified neurosurgeons in Canada.

Your sister is in our thoughts and prayers. Keep fighting on her behalf!

Thank you Paul. Through these links I was able to determine that there is in fact a hopital close by that is doing this procedure. A couple of days ago my brother-in-law mentioned this to the ong. who dismissed it saying that it was for patients with one to two tumors. I've heard otherwise particularly from reading some of the stories on this site. We are going to take this upon ourselves to look into.
She is not ready to give up her fight though she is feeling quite demoralized and weak at this point...we will support her in her quest to survive. We love her and we need her.
Thank you for responding
Celina