Letter from Richard

Dear Friends,
First, I would like to say thank you for all the support you have given my family during this time. It has been overwhelming to me to realize the number of people who have touched our lives.
To each of you, I give my heartfelt thanks, admiration, and love. You are very special to us. Your support, especially to Heather, Anna, and Paul, has left a lasting impression on all of us. As many know, today, I went into the hospital with hopes of having my stomach and surrounding tissue removed expunging the tumor. The procedure was to take 6 or more hours.
The first part of the procedure was another exploratory laparoscopy to review the area around the stomach, liver, pancreas, intestines, and esophagus for additional tumors and margin to remove the infected stomach.
There was no sign of additional spread to organs which is extremely positive. Unfortunately, there was not enough margin between potentially active
tumor cells and the esophagus. What this means, is the surgery was aborted and returned to oncology for additional eradication and treatment prior to attempting removal.
The current recommendation is 3 more rounds of chemotherapy predicated on agreement by my oncologist. Biopsies were performed as well and the results will be available in a few days. My response to the previous rounds of chemotherapy has been successful. At this point, I am back in a holding pattern but the next rounds of chemotherapy will be even stronger than the previous and will likely have more impact on my day to day activity level.
Clearly, the results today were not what any of us had hoped but we knew that it was a possibility. I remain realistically hopeful given the severity of the situation.
I appreciate your continued support for my family as they are the reason I do everything, everyday.

Thanks,
Richard Mackey