Dalton Andrew is 19 and was first diagnosed
with brain cancer at age 17. He had an anaplastic medduloblastoma in his
cerebellum. He had surgery and they were able to only partially resect the
tumor 2 years ago. What followed was an intense year and a half of heavy chemo
and radiation. The tumor did finally dissipate back in November of 2011, but
the chemo treatments carried on until March of 2012.
Dalton lost over 50 pounds, lost his hair three times, and had a feeding tube
surgically implanted into his stomach. When treatment was finally over, Dalton
began getting stronger day by day.
Unfortunately, Dalton
had an MRI on Jan 23, that showed he had relapsed and there were new tumors in
his brain. He had a new 3 cm tumor in the same place as
the old one, and 2 smaller tumors in his cerebellum. It also shows some
"nodule" cancer in his brain stem. After speaking with both his
oncologist and his neurosurgeon, Dalton and his family were given the news that
brain cancer would be taking Dalton's life at some point. Knowing this, Dalton
was faced with the harrowing decision of whether to have another brain surgery,
recover, and prolong his life, even though the surgery was extremely risky..
Or, not to have the surgery all together. Dalton chose to have the surgery
within days. While Dalton is still recovering from the surgery, he is working
with a physical therapist for his walking, balance and strength to return to as
normal as possible. Dalton has also decided to take part in a clinical trial,
to attempt to reverse the growth of the other tumors in his brain. During the
clinical trial, he will have to see the Dr. for exams, follow ups, etc. weekly.
However, during this time, Dalton wants to live his life to the fullest.
He has
created his “Bucket List of Hope”:
- · One of the things he wants to do is write a book, or work with someone who could help him put his thoughts in writing. (This has been donated by Crusaders Equestrian Team)
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- · A Superman tattoo with the brain cancer ribbon. (This has been donated by Jacob Madsen of Ink Stain Tat2’s and Piercing in Hudson, CO.)
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- · Dalton would like to have a party. His mom is thinking Memorial Day weekend would be best so that people from out of town can come and make a long weekend of it. She said if they could do it at a hotel that would be great. She would like to have a DJ or band (Steve L. – Maybe the band you had could do this event), a firework show, donated food and a celebrity if we could get one (she used the example of a Broncos player). We are thinking we could also do a themed party as Dalton has always wanted to go see the Ireland Lights but because he has lost so much weight and he is very thin, they are not sure he could spend the time in that cold of weather. So maybe for the party we could bring the Ireland Lights to him! J
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- · Dalton loves the show Breaking Bad and would like to see the final season before anything happens. His mom has emailed everyone that she could find on the AMC website to see what she could do so any help with this would be nice.
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- · Since he cannot go to Ireland Lights they would like to do a family trip to Cancun. They have already received donated air miles and are going from April 9th to April 15th. They would need a hotel room donated for April 9th – April 13th in Cancun and from April 13th – April 15th in Tulum. They would also like to do different excursions in each city.
