WP members GF ill with cancer

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hi guys,

I'm suppose to be "away"... but I got a pm from sean sitting there for more than a couple days, and I couldn't help but opened it today. Anyway, I have pm sean about the donation thing.

As for the brain tumour. I just called a friend of mine, who is a doctor (intern).

So the following is what he told me:

Diagnosis: Scan

Brain tumour: Primary or Secondary.
Primary = originated in the brain
Secondary = metastasized from other tumour in the body, meaning that the person has a malignant tumour somewhere else, meaning that the person has cancer, and is already metastasizing.

*I think I also learned this in my pathology class *

Primary tumour in brain, most of them are benign, rarely malignant.

Can benign tumour kill? Yes, if it grows too big over time, and affect the brain.

Treatment for benign tumour? Radiation ---> decrease the size of the tumour

Since I can't fall asleep yet, I decided to look into some formation about brain tumour on eMedicine.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/

So this is what I learned.

Gliomas, metastases, meningiomas, pituitary adenomas, and acoustic neuromas account for 95% of all brain tumors.

Then I looked into each catogory except for the metastases.

pituitary adenomas
Pituitary adenomas are almost always benign with no malignant potential.
Pituitary adenomas are slow growing, encapsulated tumors of epithelial origin that penetrate adjacent structures.
In United State, pituitary tumors represent 10-15% of all intracranial tumors.
The mortality rate related to pituitary tumors is low.
These tumors occur mainly in women, with a female-to-male ratio of 4:1.
Three options are available for the management of pituitary adenomas: surgery, medical therapy, and radiation therapy.

acoustic neuroma
Acoustic neuromas are intracranial, extra-axial tumors that arise from the Schwann cell sheath investing either the vestibular or cochlear nerve.
Although most acoustic neuromas grow slowly, some grow quite quickly and can double in volume within 6 months to a year.
Acoustic neuromas are managed in one of the following 3 ways: (1) surgical excision of the tumor, (2) arresting tumor growth using stereotactic radiation therapy, or (3) careful serial observation.

meningiomas
Meningioma, the term coined by Harvey Cushing, refers to a set of tumors that arise contiguously to the meninges.
Meningiomas usually grow slowly, and they may produce severe morbidity before causing death.
Meningiomas afflict women more often than men. The male-to-female ratio ranges from 1:1.4 to 1:2.8.
Medical care for meningiomas has been disappointing. It is restricted either to perioperative drugs or to medications that are used after all other means of treatment have failed.
The use of corticosteroids preoperatively and postoperatively has significantly decreased the mortality and morbidity rates associated with surgical resection.
The current experience with chemotherapy is disappointing.

Gliomas
Brainstem gliomas are tumors that occur in the region of the brain referred to as the brain stem, which is the area between the aqueduct of Sylvius and the fourth ventricle.
These tumors have a predilection to originate from the left side. Most are located in the pons; however, medulla and midbrain may be involved as well.
Brainstem gliomas are highly aggressive brain tumors.
Some reports have suggested a slight male preponderance, whereas others have failed to observe any sex predilection.
Sudden death can result from increased intracranial pressure and subsequent cerebral herniation. This may be a consequence either of edema induced by the tumor or of hemorrhage into the neoplasm.
Treatment of brainstem gliomas has been frustrating; at this point, new therapies have yielded little benefit over conventional treatment with radiotherapy alone.

ok guys, I'm tired...

wise words hale_bopp

Sean, if your girlfriend knows you are raising money for her and is happy with it, why not ask her to help you?

I'm not trying to be mean and say we should make her jump through hoops like some 419 scammer, but some evidence that what she says is true would go a good way towards alleviating suspicion.

I would suggest something like that she email you a picture of her holding her medical diagnosis, signed by her doctor, or a signed prescription for whatever drugs she's being prescribed. Hell, even her standing beside the MRI machine might do the trick.

Unfortunately, at this moment in time though, I will err with those who suspect something's a little odd.

Maybe not a monetary scam (although the price of this trip seems to be jumping quite a bit) but as others have said, the history itself sounds unusual. I'm not saying it's not possible; tumours are weird things, and perhaps in America, treatment differs, but that does make it harder to tell if she's being truthful or not, especially if she hasn't told you anything about the tumour itself.

I think that if even you have not met your girlfriend yet, then it is a bad idea to trust her completely. Sorry.

i agree. Someone once pretended their mother had a brain tumour to manipulate me and even when things sounded abit shifty i gave them the benefit of the doubt because i thought there was no way someone would sink so low and have the bare faced cheek to lie about something like this to someone who cared about them, all for their own benefit. they went into detailed stories and gave updates on treatment, even pretending they were on the phone to her crying because her hair was falling out whilst stood infront of me. but i found out from the mother herself that it was 100% untrue.
so no offence but ive learnt my lesson and something about this strikes me as odd. i wouldnt mind donating otherwise, sorry

[from the website]

Correction. This is extremely odd.

Before I say anything more, can I ask where did your girlfriend go for her diagnosis?

i dont mean to go all sherlock on ya'll but i remember reading a post before with him showing a picture of the gf and saying she'd said she wore a 32A bra- the girl in the picture definately did not. this was before any of the cancer scare and i remember thinking there was something shifty about it even then. I'm abit worried about this sean fella getting taken advantage of:/

For what it's worth:

I've had someone (a girlfriend, ish) tell me she was dying when she wasn't. That was bad. I'd folded so many damn paper cranes before I found out. Think I chucked some in the Wear.

I've also known someone (an ex-girlfriend, ish) die suddenly from something similar. That was really bad. Mainly it just seems so unfair on her.

Anyway, what I mean to say is:

Best case scenario - she's honourable but mistaken.
Second best scenario - she's pulling an emotional scam.
Worst scenario - she's honourable and right.

I was never quite sure whether the wish worked.

I hope you get enough to be able to see your girlfriend and I wish you the best.

Last edited by Jono on 22 Jul 2010, 3:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I hope I'm wrong... and I kept quiet because this is so sad if it is true. I can't help but speak up now:

First she's not your girlfriend. You haven't even met her yet. You aren't even dating, let alone in a relationship. Keep your distance until you get to know her better. (Actually, this is good advice for anyone here. Do not get emotionally vested until you get to know the other person very well and can tell if things could work out long term or not.)

Second, this looks and smells like a scam. Watch out if she comes up with a last minute reason why you can't fly over there to visit, and instead asks you to send her the money. I hope this doesn't happen but I'm just being realistic here.

For what its worth, having worked hospital reception, maybe Sean should try calling the hospital she is at to confirm she is a patient.
maybe that would stop this speculation on wither she is actually sick or scamming him, either way I can understand the pain and turmoil
he is feeling

I noticed that too.. thats what I meant. Also the dark haired girl in the pictures looked really quite different from the petite brunette in other threads.

The fact you brought this up now has really got me thinking.

I do want to help Sean out if the case is legit but I want to investigate further.

Well since we're on the subject on further investigation...

The girl has a myspace page correct? One could take a look there just to confirm that there is something wrong with the girl. Not that it couldn't possibly be faked, but surely people will have all kinds of "get well" messages and what not there that might help add validity to the situation.

Honestly nothing short of seeing her official diagnosis from an actual doctor will make this 100% and asking for that is probably considered an invasion of privacy.

Friskeygirl, calling the hospital to confirm patient XYZ is there and her condition is a good idea, but Sean has already mentioned she is at home currently. It could only be done on the day of the surgery.

I believe he wouldn't be able to do that until she was actually admitted to the hospital. Then they can only state what floor or unit she might be in. It's illegal for them to release any medical information/records without a signed authorization/release from the patient.
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That's why I suggested he have her get a diagnosis from her physician typed up on his professional letter-head and signed by him which he could post on the charity website. Medical Board of Indiana could be contacted as well as his medical office.

whos asking for records, people still do send flowers and will call reception to confirm a patient