This is a quick catch up and announcement about Jack's current condition. Jack is currently fighting malignant teratoma brain cancer. He has been in the Neuro ICU for 15 days on an hour to hour and day to day basis. He has been transferred to the Acute Neuro Trauma unit as of yesterday, September 5th. This type of cancer is aggressive and has the ability to morph and grow through imitating germ cells. Malignant teratoma is the diagnosis from MJ Anderson neuro oncologist and confirmed independently by another Tucson pathologist. It is day by day right now and we are hoping for continued progress but it's been a roller coaster. Jack has been fighting everyday and making significant progress. His good days are marked by hand movements, nods and sometimes, a single word or two. One day he clearly said ”What the f***.” Sums up all this quite well.

This is a timeline to update you on what has been happening over the past few months. Jack started having severe migraine and hearing issues in June. By July they were significantly worse and he was able to get an MRI. The results came in with no explanation. Luckily Jack reached out to his 2 neurosurgeon friends and they identified a tumor in his pineal gland. They confirmed another tumor that was thought to be an acoustic neuroma and that one made him deaf in his right ear. While symptoms continued getting worse by the day, Jack struggled to be admitted to the hospital for treatment. Then through an Emergency Room admittance, imaging and a spinal tap were completed asap with the results scheduling Jack for surgery. On August 5th Jack had a biopsy and an incision hole made for drainage of spinal fluid. There was the possibility a shunt would be attached to his head to consistently drain spinal fluid when needed. The tumor was blocking the spinal fluid from draining. A hole was successfully made in the tumor eliminating the need for a shunt. This biopsy was going to take one to two weeks. Jack was released pending biopsy pathology results.

Jack made it 11 days before the stabbing pain in the back of his head and double vision affected both eyes. He was completely deaf in his right ear. As well as his facial swelling and tinnitus getting worse. Jack was told to go to the Emergency Room so an MRI and CT scan could be done. He was readmitted on August 18th to Banner University Medical Center. An emergency biopsy surgery was planned for Wednesday August 20th. The tumors had grown at an alarming rate. Jack was operated on to remove the tumors. There was a complication where he had strokes from the procedure itself. The next morning after the brain surgery, there was a build up of fluid pushing against his brain stem. The Neuro ICU placed a temporary shunt drainage tube externally to allow for the additional bleeding and fluid build up to drain.

Jack was on an hour to hour watch fighting for his life. Doctors and nurses couldn’t get his vitals, blood, and brain pressure under control. Jack could not talk and his face was extremely swollen as the right side had a large droop. If he got emotionally upset his brain pressure spiked. He was placed on anti seizure and stroke medications. An EEG was attached to his head with a live monitor and camera to record and watch Jack hour to hour continuing for the next 4 days.

The tissue sample results from the biopsy would be available within 2 weeks. Previous biopsy and spinal lab results were inconclusive.

They were able to remove some of the tumor but not nearly enough to minimize it. They were able to assess the tumor while taking the biopsy and found one of the tumors had calcified and wrapped around Jack's brain stem. The tumor is also on nerves and blood vessels making further surgical removal not possible.

He has been in the Neuro ICU for 15 days. He has been transferred to the Acute Neural unit as of today, September 5th. Presently he has developed a blood bacteria infection that will need to be eliminated while the incision is healing.

He is currently starting PT and speech therapy. Jack is now deaf in his right ear and his right eye vision is unknown at this point in time. He has a delayed response time right now but it continues to improve everyday. He has been depressed and worried about the state he is currently in.

The pathology report came in and he has been diagnosed with a pineal gland cancer so rare that it has barely been studied. This type of cancer is aggressive and has the ability to morph and grow through imitating germ cells. Malignant teratoma is the diagnosis from the MJ Anderson neuro oncologist and confirmed independently by another independent Tucson pathologist.

Jack will start chemotherapy sometime next week in this hospital.

We will keep informing everyone with critical comments and updates, I will also attach an email address if you would like to send questions. I will try and respond as quickly as possible.

We really appreciate everyone supporting Jack. We know it's his will to survive. We have gotten laughs out of him from messages sent from friends so Jack's humor hasn’t gone anywhere. With hopeful thoughts our goal is to get Jack stable and get onto his treatment plan.

We thank you for your love and support of Jack.

Janine (mom), Jeff (dad) and Reny (brother)