BlaineBarry

November 19, 2007

It is with a very heavy and heartbroken heart that I write this to you. Blaine went to Heaven at 5:20 PM Saturday, November 17, 2007.

The service will be held Wednesday, Nov 21 at The Church of the Resurrection in the Wesley Chapel (east building-enter off of Roe). Visitation begins at 9:30 a.m. and the service will follow at 11:00 a.m. There will be an obituary in the Kansas City Star tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 20

Words are difficult for me, as I am sure you can understand, so I will keep this short. Blaine loved all of the support he received from family and friends and those who didn’t even know him yet prayed for him and donated money and help to him. He is not in pain anymore, I am sure he is dancing in the presence of our Lord and Savior, and I like to think he is looking down on us all with his loving and bright eyes.

Please pray for all of us who love him, as this is a very difficult and excruciating loss.

Love,
Andrea

October 23, 2007

We are not going to Duke this week after all. Duke hasn’t received the slides (for needed genetic information) from M.D. Anderson yet. Blaine has also been more unsteady the last couple days so the flight may be a little rough on him (although he was better today, pray that he continues to get better). We will be consulting with Duke however, and a local doctor will give Blaine treatment directed by Duke, and we hope to travel there sometime relatively soon, in the next few or couple weeks. We will also be talking to Jeanne Wallace, PhD (the nutritional consultant) soon, hopefully in the next week or so. And Blaine may do some more testing to help further determine good treatments. Please pray!!! Blaine WILL get better no matter what.

Love,
Andrea

October 20, 2007

We are going to Duke Tuesday, October 23. Blaine has an appointment at 12 noon October 24. He will have appointments the next day as well. Please pray!!! For guidance, wisdom, and miracles.

Love,
Andrea

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October 8, 2007

Blaine had an MRI last Monday (Oct. 1). The results came back not so good. He had a doctor's appointment Thursday and his local doctor basically gave up and suggested hospice. Naturally we all were feeling pretty down after that. Then, after feeling down (and me crying a few times), he, his family and I decided we are NOT giving up. The only reason we would use hospice is as a home health care agency. So we decided to do more research on possibilities, both conventional and holistic, and to help Blaine with a consistently good healthy diet and to get his supplements in consistently at the right doses. Naturally since he is typically by himself all day, and especially if he is feeling tired it is difficult for him to make sure he eats well and gets his supplements in every time, much less go shopping when he needs food. So we are going to do our best!!

So we decided to keep hope and trust in God that Blaine WILL get stronger and heal. On Saturday night Blaine and I went to the annual Be Head Strong dinner and auction. We had a GREAT time. After dinner I just happened to notice on the program that there was a doctor from Duke Med's brain tumor center (one of the top brain tumor centers in the country, also I am sure the world). We were planning on looking into Duke anyway, so I asked Gail Mullen, one of the board members of Be Head Strong and who had invited us, about him and she introduced us to him right away. He was VERY positive and sure that they could find something to help Blaine. Blaine really liked him and felt comfortable talking to him. We talked to some other board members of Be Head Strong throughout the night and they gave rave reviews of Duke, Dr. Lee Jones (the research doctor we met), and Dr. Henry Friedman. I have heard of Dr. Friedman on some of the yahoo brain tumor groups I'm a part of and have heard great things there too, he is known for his work with brain tumors. We talked to the president of the Tug McGraw Foundation who was also there, and she emailed Dr. Friedman right there to let him know I would be calling, and told me to call him the next day. I did, and he called me back within an hour or two (even on a Sunday)! This is amazing because most doctors don't, and he is extremely busy. Patients who have gone there have told me he is very pro-active and does not give up because he knows what new treatments are on the horizon. He and Dr. Jones both seem to be very compassionate men.

Naturally we have felt very excited about this. We are also consulting a nutritionist, Dr. Jeanne M. Wallace Phd, CNC, who specializes in brain tumors. She will write out an 80-90 page report of suggestions to help Blaine. I have heard great things about her too. She knows medications very well so can tell us what supplements will go well or not go well with what meds, and she typically works through different pathways to attack the cancer (including immune, redifferentiation, apoptosis (cell "suicide" and more) . She has done more research on this than anyone I have ever heard of, focusing on brain tumors. I also just heard today that Dr. Friedman has spoken very highly of her so we are very happy about that. Both of them are known for having high numbers of survivors, so we will have the best of both conventional and holistic.

So that is our plan. I am hoping we can get to Duke asap, this week if possible.

Lessons learned: Trust in God, decide you are going to have faith no matter what anyone else says, expert or not, and no matter what you "feel". He truly comes through! He will guide you and get you through not somehow but TRIUMPHANTLY (to quote a card Blaine's step-mom gave him). His will is to heal no matter what anyone says, if they give you hope or not. He is not human, His ways and love and goodness are MUCH higher and greater than we can even fathom. All hope, life and goodness comes from Him, so, just as Jesus said, do not give up in prayer. Healing is His idea before it is ours. Ask Him to make your pathways straight and He will. Dig deep down and pray honestly from your heart when you feel down. Cry if you need to, that does not mean that you don't have hope. It can help you pray more honestly and thus end up with more faith. Then make a decision to have faith and believe God.

We are going to BEAT this thing with God's help.

God bless you all!
Love,
Andrea :-)

August 7, 2007

MRI RESULTS (from July 26)

The cancer is reduced overall! There are a couple spots which they are not sure if they were present before or not.

Please continue to pray! It is making a difference. Blaine is healing and doing very well. Please also pray for Blaine’s faith and confidence in God, that He desires to heal him and IS healing him. Please pray for God to fill Blaine with His powerful healing presence, love and life. Please pray with faith and confidence! God truly hears us when we pray.

We look forward to seeing you at the fund-raiser in a couple weeks! Please pray that God makes it BIG and all financial needs are provided for.

God bless you!
Andrea

By His wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5

July 18, 2007

Hello! I have mostly been emailing updates and completely forgot to update this page! Apologies!

Blaine decided to stop the antineoplaston medication on May 25. It didn’t work well enough, the tumor grew approximately 94%.

He started taking Poly MVA at a low dose right away, then 2-3 weeks later raised it. He started some other supplements a week later. Then on June 8 he began treatments of Avastin and CPT-11 (chemo) every two weeks. He is about to have his fourth treatment on July 23, then will get an MRI within a couple days.
Please continue to pray! He is doing well for the most part, and he has abundant faith that God’s will is to heal him and that He has great plans and a purpose for him. Amen!

There will be a fund-raiser August 18 (Saturday) from 8 AM - 2 PM. I will post more info soon.

God bless you!
Andrea

May 2, 2007

Blaine has been taking the antineoplaston medication for 2 weeks now. He has done well for the most part. It is normal for patients to feel more tired, both from the antineoplastons as well as from the cancer dying off (this can actually make cancer patients feel worse than normal). But those kind of side effects, from the cancer cells dying, are just fine with us!

The doctors are encouraged because his uric acid has been high on his blood tests. This could be a VERY good thing, because cancer cells release uric acid, among other things, when they die off. The only other indication for high uric acid is gout, and Blaine has never had a problem with this. So we are glad the uric acid is high and are praying that it means the cancer is dying off!

Another thing that happens, both some from antineoplastons and when the cancer dies off, is inflammation. Blaine has had some of this. When tumors die, sometimes they swell a little before breaking down. They have medication for the inflammation thankfully.

Tomorrow we are going to be discharged from the clinic. It is another $7600 to be paid tomorrow before Blaine can be treated for the next month. Please pray that we are able to raise money soon, because it will be at least $7600 at the start of each month for Blaine to continue. And please pray that God uses the antineoplastons to heal Blaine completely, that He uses them to make every cancer cell die off.

Thank you!

God bless,
Andrea (Blaine’s girlfriend)