From Monterrey Mexico, childhood cancer advocate Christina Wascher joins the show with Kristoffer Nordstrom, father to 5-year-old Linnea who is currently undergoing treatment there for DIPG, with hopeful success 6 weeks into treatment.
The Nordstrom family is from Sweden and they are prepared to remain at least six months in Mexico for Linnea’s treatment. With Dr.s Siller, Garcia and Rodriguez, each specializing in a different modality, a more holistic approach to brain cancer treatment is showing great promise for further development, even for the dreaded DIPG.
Christina Wascher advocates for children with cancer but focusing on DIPG right now, as the research represents the frontier of our medical knowledge and the need for solutions, dire. She assists families as well as advocating for the research itself for greater collaboration between scientists in the world.
Note for DIPG parents seeking treatment in Mexico: generally the radiation therapy is too damaging for the prospects of this treatment being as successful as possible, so please discuss with your child’s attending neuro-oncologist before making a decision to pursue this treatment. Of course we realize how urgent it is to begin RT at diagnosis time due to the aggressive nature of the tumor and your child’s doctor can probably tell from the scans the urgency of the situation. Do not be dismayed at having “missed” an opportunity, as no doctor, clinic or institution wishes to deny treatment for any reason if possible. Hopefully this treatment will be developed further in collaboration with other scientists in the US and around the world so that more will be readily informed of the option which this treatment may provide. It also demands private funding.