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Dustin's Story
Dustin Myers, age 18, loves to help his father work on
cars, fishing, drag racing, wrestling, riding 4
wheelers, and "messing" with his truck. Dustin's favorite
food is chicken pie; his favorite drink is Mountain Dew. He
has two favorite movies, SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT and
FAST AND THE FURIOUS. His favorite TV show is Boy
Meets World.
When Dustin was 17 years old he was having
great amounts of pain in his left leg. He would get up
and go to school, but before lunch time, either his mom
or his sister had to go pick him up the pain was too
much for him to have to walk. He went to the doctor
several times and they would tell him things like it
is growing pains or fractured bone. They gave him pain
medication and a knee brace it seemed to make things
worse. Eventually Dustin wouldn't go back to the doctor because he
said no one believed him. So he just took the pain.
One day he was going out the door and tripped over the
mop and fell down the steps. Finally his parents
talked him into going to the doctor to make sure he
didn't hurt his back or anything else.
When he went to the
doctor they did x-rays and saw a spot on his lower
back. The doctor immediately scheduled him an
appointment for a MRI and a Bone Scan. Dustin was in so
much pain he couldn't lay there long enough
for the MRI. So they did the bone scan and a CT scan.
That's when they found the tumor in his left pelvic
area. Dustin's mother watched the CT scan and saw it
all. The tumor was the size of a cantaloupe. The doctor
who did the scans called Dustin's family doctor and
discussed it with him. The doctor who did the
scans contacted hematology and oncology doctor and
they said they would be contacting Dustin and parents.
Dr, McClen called and talked to Dustin and his family
and scheduled and appointment for the next day, June
26, 2001. At the appointment there was another doctor,
Dr. Woffard. They discussed the tumor, the size, and
talked to Dustin about the pain, and gave him some
morphine. They also met with Dr. Ward, who did a
needle biopsy in the office that day, but it was
unsuccessful. At this time doctors where considering
amputating Dustin's left leg. They scheduled Dustin to have a
surgical biopsy, on July 5, 2001. They went home on
July 7, 2001 from hospital, the family thought Dustin
had the worst kind of cancer, cancer that could not be
treated. When biopsy came back July 11, 2001 it showed
he had Osteo-Genic Sarcoma. This is a rare type of
bone cancer.
The doctors suggested that Dustin come in July 13, 2001 for a 5 day chemo treatment. The first treatment gave Dustin a lot of
trouble. He had bleeding from his bladder so the
doctors stopped the chemo and catheterized him. They
went home July 20, 2001. On August 20, 2001 they finally
took the catheter out.
Dustin's protocol was to
have chemo for 1 yr, and be home bound from school.
A social worker called and arranged for Dustin to have a wheel
chair and a bed side potty. He was in the wheel chair
for 3 months, and during that time he was having
physical therapy at home. He was able to start walking
on his own again but still had a bad limp in his
left leg.
In January 2002 doctors discussed the
possibility of radiation. Dustin's doctors discussed
his case with Dr. Shaw the head of the radiation department
at Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital. Dustin's
other doctors let Dr. Shaw find the best place for
Dustin to receive his radiation. Dr. Shaw suggested
that Dustin receive a Neutron Radiation at the
University Of Washington Medical Center, in Seattle.
Dr. Shaw discussed this with Dustin and his family. May
24, 2002 was Dustin's last chemo treatment. Dustin's family and friends had
prayed that Dustin would be better and wouldn't have to go
to Seattle. But by this time they where already
making arrangements for Dustin to go. Dustin had to go
for scans on June 20, 2002 and the scans showed that
the tumor had shrank from an 8.9 to a 7.8, since Nov. 2001.
At this time Dustin and his parents are in Seattle, WA.
He starts his radiation on Aug.1, 2002. As of now it
is planned for them to come home in September of 2002.
