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Well written Tom, donated to the cause. Wish you the best of luck buddy.
On Jul 20, 2016 1:14 PM, "Tom Bird via OBRA" wrote:
> Disregard this if you don’t care – I understand and would not be offended
> (heck I would not even know).
>
>
>
> I wanted to reach out to the OBRA community as it is one of the few groups
> I sort of feel connected to. I started racing cross in 2009 and it has
> been instrumental in helping me deal with a rather unpleasant life changing
> event. March of this year I came down with a horrible case of vertigo.
> Had to take an ambulance ride to the hospital as I could not move my head
> or open my eyes without throwing up. After some time in the emergency room
> the Doctor on duty sent me in for an MRI. The results have forever changed
> my life and I still struggle with understanding them to this day. They
> found a mass in my brain. The good news, they did not think it had
> anything to do with my vertigo issue. Well that is a comfort…
>
>
>
> First surgeon thought it was an Oligodendroglia (what I think Gary
> Bonacker of Sunnyside Sports in Bend, that many of you know, has) and
> wanted to take a wait and see approach. After doing some research we
> wanted a second opinion and contacted OHSU. Our first visit with them the
> Doctors thought the same thing Oligo – if you look up Oligo in a medical
> text book it would look like this they said. BUT my surgeon was completely
> different in his approach, he said “see this number here?” it was my age,
> 47, that is not supposed to be here when you are 47. We are cutting it
> out. So on May 31st I had a craniotomy to cut the thing out. My surgery
> went well, they called it a Gross Total Resection where they get 95+% of
> it. I had no complications and was out of the hospital in 3 days. When we
> were signing release papers we saw the diagnosis had changed, they did not
> consider the tumor an Oligo, they identified it as an Anaplastic
> Astrocytoma. Hmm, that is not good. That is a grade III tumor and much
> more aggressive. (Oligo’s are considered grade II and much slower
> growing). No time to worry about that I had to focus on recovery. My
> sister came to help out and everything went better than expected. Again,
> we had done much research on how recovery goes after brain surgery and I
> was not typical. Everything went fantastic, no issues, no complications,
> and recovery progressed and surprised everyone. They did not even have to
> shave my head so you could barely even see the scar. Two weeks after being
> discharged was the follow up with the surgeon. We were so upbeat because
> of how well the surgery went and my recovery had gone. I figured
> everything would be good news from here on out. Boy was I wrong.
>
>
>
> We met with the surgical fellow at OHSU and he informed us the pathology
> on the tumor came back and it was not an Oligo, nor Astrocytoma, it was a
> Glioblastoma Multiforme or GBM. Only the worst tumor you can have AND if
> you google it, a death sentence in 14 months. (don’t google it, it is very
> depressing and most of that info is old data – things have gotten better
> thanks to the work of many great doctors and organizations like the Nation
> Brain Tumor Society that I am asking you to support). Once we found out,
> seriously, we did not hear another word the Doctor said. It was Charlie
> Brown adult talk, Wah a Wah wah. I felt like I was punched in the stomach
> all weekend. I could not eat without feeling sick and could not sleep.
> The following week we met with our Oncologist at OHSU to discuss the
> treatments. They were going to be very aggressive as this was now a GBM
> and not what they had originally thought with the Oligo. Chemo and
> Radiation for me starting ASAP. I am currently in my third week of Chemo
> and Radiation and doing well. The Radiation Oncologist is a mountain biker
> and I promised to take him to Sandy when my treatments are done mid-August.
>
>
>
> The bummer is this was going to be “My Year!”. I got engaged to a
> fantastic woman that has been nothing short of phenomenal throughout this
> ordeal. I had ended a good cross season and was working out hard and
> taking my off season training seriously. (OK I have never been competitive
> in any race but I am just happy being out there). I was probably in the
> best shape of my life and looking forward to racing short track this year.
> I had a new job working in Portland so getting to PIR after work would not
> be the nightmare it was the previous years I raced short track (working in
> LO – I5 traffic blows). I had just bought a new mountain bike and got it
> dialed in the weekend before the vertigo attack. Things have been pretty
> shitty since. OK I take that back, granted there has been bad news with
> the yet uncured vertigo and the brain tumor but all things considered the
> tumor recovery has gone better than anyone had expected. I have to
> attribute that to my passion for racing cross and my motivation to get in
> shape for the 2016 season. Like I said, I have never been competitive.
> Happy to be a Master C racer mid pack but seriously other than the Clydes,
> we have the most fun. We are all middle aged with often with 8-5 M-F jobs
> and many with kids and real responsibilities. Who has time to get serious
> and train. I would rather go do two-three fun laps at Sandy and have beers
> in the parking lot than do hill repeats or circles on PIR’s track.
>
>
>
> As I said above, my vertigo is still an issue and I cannot ride – YET.
> Have some more appointments with specialists to see if they can figure out
> what is going on. Thus I could not participate in Tour de Chutes that the
> aforementioned Gary Bonacker founded and I highly recommend supporting. (
> http://www.tourdeschutes.org/ actually I was not even cleared to ride
> when the Tour took place). But I can walk and that is what this long ass
> email is all about. So if you have stuck with me this far here is what I
> am getting at. I am asking for you to support me and my team in the
> Portland Tumor Walk taking place August 7th in Pioneer Courthouse
> Square.
>
>
>
> Details here -> http://events.braintumor.org/portland-brain-tumor-walk/
>
> Team info here ->
> http://www.braintumorcommunity.org/site/TR/TeamraiserEvents/PortlandBrainTumorWalk?team_id=78344&pg=team&fr_id=2735
>
>
>
> These guys http://braintumor.org/ have been instrumental in pushing
> research and support to those with brain tumors. This is also what I
> struggle with now that I have been “diagnosed” with a disease, asking for
> help to support the fight against it. If I did not have a brain tumor
> would I be here asking you for help, probably not. There are so many
> worthy causes out there to support how do you choose? I give to OPB and to
> causes my friends support because that means something to me. I have a
> connection. What made this click for me was the CEO of my former company.
> Here is a guy in his mid 60’s on top of the world. Running a fortune 500
> company and wham, you get ALS. There is no cure for that. What the heck
> do you do? He is choosing to help support the fight against it and bring
> awareness. Sorry I don’t know much about ALS but I can talk about brain
> tumors a bit. They suck! Doctors don’t know what causes them and anyone
> can get them at any time. They are not genetic; you don’t get them from
> your mother or father. You can do all the right things and still get
> them. I eat healthy, ate cancer fighting foods, worked out, hell raced
> bikes and we all know that is not easy. When you see the doctor he says
> you are in great shape. I say I am not – why not he asks, because I don’t
> win any races. I am a mid-pack guy. That is not “in great shape”. BUT
> the fact I am out there trying to improve “catch that guy ahead of you”
> mentality has allowed me to deal with this situation better than most thus
> I have done so well in my treatments. The shitty thing is I see a LOT of
> people in much better “shape” than me that still lose this race and that
> scares the hell out of me. So this is why I am asking for your
> help/support/generosity anything you can do. It is one thing to have a
> doctor tell you, you have XXX and this is the cure. It is another when
> they say, you have a brain tumor, we are going to do XXX but there is no
> cure. That really sucks.
>
>
>
> So if you feel obliged to help a fellow racer that feels like bike racing
> has make him tough enough to fight this shitty disease and “not come in
> last” (team Motto) please donate OR better yet, come out and walk with us,
> on the Portland Tumor Walk. Think of it like this, let’s say there is a
> race you want to do like Mondays Short Track race but you cannot go because
> of some stupid reason – donate your entry fee to Team Food Baby and help
> Brain Tumor research. It does not have to be much, anything helps (Isn’t
> that what they all say).
>
> Heck better yet, let’s say you are a really good racer and you win some
> prize money. Maybe donate that – that would be way cool!
>
>
>
> Help support “Team Food Baby” or me Tom Bird here ->
> http://www.braintumorcommunity.org/site/TR/Events/?fr_id=2735&pg=pfind
>
>
>
> PS: If anyone knows Gary personally I would love to chat with him. I have
> never met him and my fiancé found him a roundabout way when doing some
> research on craniotomies and mountain bikers and helmets. That lead to
> Dillon Caldwell and that lead me to Gary.
>
>
>
> PSS: The team name comes from my cross “racing team” Team Food Baby
> (details here -> http://teamfoodbaby.com/the-the-hell-is-team-food-baby)
>
>
>
> PLUS if anyone makes it this far and would like to chime in – I need to
> get some new helmets. Now what my skull has been cracked open I have been
> advised to get the best helmet (safest – whatever) helmet there is. Ready
> to start a new discussion on what helmet is the best? We know how OBRA
> Chat loves discussions…..
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Tom Bird – Team Food Baby
>
>
>
>
>
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