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Sarah Gerstenkorn
- 23, Female
- Augusta, Kansas
- United States
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- About Me:
- I am a 22 year old college student. I was first diagnosed ten years ago at the age of 11. At the time, none of the doctors we talked with had ever heard of this type of tumor and no one really knew what steps to take.
- How do GCTs affect you?
- GCT patient
- Location of primary tumor:
- sacrum
- Date of diagnosis of primary tumor:
- June 1998
- Treatment of primary tumor:
- The tumor on my sacrum was removed and reconstruction surgery was done to help stabilize the area.
- Facility treated at for primary tumor:
- Wesley Hospital in Wichita, KS
- Would you recommend this facility and it's Doctors to another GCT patient?
- No, because they had no previous experience with this type of tumor.
- Recurrence? If so, where?
- Yes, the tumor reoccurred in October of the same year once again on the sacrum. However, this time the doctors were not willing to remove it due to the possible nerve damage.
- Date of recurrence:
- October 1998
- Treatment of recurrence:
- I was given a few rounds of proton radiation before becoming too sick. I developed a blood clot and my lung collapsed to treatment had to be stopped. Later, when I became stronger, regular radiation was used.
- Facility treated at for recurrence:
- Loma Linda, CA/ Wesley Medical Center, Wichita KS
- Metastasis? If so, where?
- Metastasis were found in the lungs
- Date of metastasis discovery:
- December 1998
- Treatment of metastasis:
- Once the metastasis was discovered, the doctors officially began calling it cancer and put me on three different rounds of chemo, all of which failed. I went on to try an alternative treatment called antineoplastans (which also failed). What finally worked and stopped the progression of the tumors was interferon shots which I began in 2000.
- Facility treated at for metastasis:
- Loma Linda, CA; Wesley Medical Center; MD Anderson, Houston, TX
- Tumor free?
- No, I currently still have the tumor on my sacrum and over 100 in my lungs but they have been calcified since approximatley 2001.
- Current GCT Status:
- present but not growing
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Here's to tumors stabilizing and hopefully getting smaller soon!! Do calcified tumors interfere with your life? Hope not...