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Stan Sakai's news... it's not good (plus small request)
12 years ago
Sharon's been in and out of the hospital since my last update. She'd get to the point where she could be released and then within 36 hours she'd be back in. I posted some of the good news, but not all of the news here -- but, trust me, I've been keeping a hawk eye on him and his status.
Stan finally posted about the medical problems she has: an inoperable brain tumor. This was along the lines of what I'd suspected, but knowing how private he is about some things, I didn't ask.
(edited to add: Those of you who love Usagi, would you consider doing a drawing ... AND THEN HOLDING IT IN RESERVE FOR A BIT. He may need filler material for an issue if there is a chain of crises... being able to pull some material for a book might give him a little breathing space and keeping Usagi to its regular schedule means that Diamond won't threaten to cancel him.)
Oh... and go buy a copy of Usagi, please. Buy early, buy often.
https://www.facebook.com/stan.sakai1
copy and paste from Stan's Facebook post
Sharon has a brain tumor, a meningioma. It is benign, but inoperable. It was discovered in 2004 when she went deaf in her left ear (everything happens on her left side). We got a second and a third opinion, and they all concurred that it could not be removed. She underwent a series of daily radiation treatments which seemed to stop its growth, and that was confirmed with MRIs every 6 months then yearly.
To everyone's surprise, especially the doctors, It returned in 2011, and quite aggressively. The left side of her face is paralyzed, including her eye, vocal chords, and throat. It also deteriorated her neck bone, so she is unable to turn her head left to right and up and down. She has double-vision, difficulty talking and swallowing, and has loss a tremendous amount of weight. She had been undergoing chemo therapy. We did look into other options from New York to Mexico, but stuck with the chemo. However, Sharon's situation is very rare and there is no standard operation procedure in its treatment.
She has many other problems associated with the tumor, treatment, or just coincidence--diabetes, high blood pressure, rapid heart rate, weight loss, slight anemia, to mention just a few. Eating has been especially hard for her because of difficulty in swallowing and her no-carb diet. She lost about 45 pounds in the last year, and she was pretty petite to start with.
About 7 weeks ago, she looked especially bad and I encouraged her to go to the doctor. She had two appointments in a couple days, and said she could hold out till then. She fainted that night, and I took her to emergency. She had fluid in her chest outside her lung that had gotten infected. They drained the fluid and gave her antibiotics, but one problem always led to another. The antibiotics killed off the good bacteria, and that led to an intestinal infection. For every step forward, we seem to take one step back.
The doctors were surprised in 2004 that there was no facial paralysis or other complications then. The way we see it, we actually were blessed with 7 additional years of good health.
We have pretty good health coverage. That had always been a priority to us, and it was difficult sometimes as a freelancer. However, it won't last forever so please continue to keep us in your prayers and thoughts. Thank you.
end paste
Stan finally posted about the medical problems she has: an inoperable brain tumor. This was along the lines of what I'd suspected, but knowing how private he is about some things, I didn't ask.
(edited to add: Those of you who love Usagi, would you consider doing a drawing ... AND THEN HOLDING IT IN RESERVE FOR A BIT. He may need filler material for an issue if there is a chain of crises... being able to pull some material for a book might give him a little breathing space and keeping Usagi to its regular schedule means that Diamond won't threaten to cancel him.)
Oh... and go buy a copy of Usagi, please. Buy early, buy often.
https://www.facebook.com/stan.sakai1
copy and paste from Stan's Facebook post
Sharon has a brain tumor, a meningioma. It is benign, but inoperable. It was discovered in 2004 when she went deaf in her left ear (everything happens on her left side). We got a second and a third opinion, and they all concurred that it could not be removed. She underwent a series of daily radiation treatments which seemed to stop its growth, and that was confirmed with MRIs every 6 months then yearly.
To everyone's surprise, especially the doctors, It returned in 2011, and quite aggressively. The left side of her face is paralyzed, including her eye, vocal chords, and throat. It also deteriorated her neck bone, so she is unable to turn her head left to right and up and down. She has double-vision, difficulty talking and swallowing, and has loss a tremendous amount of weight. She had been undergoing chemo therapy. We did look into other options from New York to Mexico, but stuck with the chemo. However, Sharon's situation is very rare and there is no standard operation procedure in its treatment.
She has many other problems associated with the tumor, treatment, or just coincidence--diabetes, high blood pressure, rapid heart rate, weight loss, slight anemia, to mention just a few. Eating has been especially hard for her because of difficulty in swallowing and her no-carb diet. She lost about 45 pounds in the last year, and she was pretty petite to start with.
About 7 weeks ago, she looked especially bad and I encouraged her to go to the doctor. She had two appointments in a couple days, and said she could hold out till then. She fainted that night, and I took her to emergency. She had fluid in her chest outside her lung that had gotten infected. They drained the fluid and gave her antibiotics, but one problem always led to another. The antibiotics killed off the good bacteria, and that led to an intestinal infection. For every step forward, we seem to take one step back.
The doctors were surprised in 2004 that there was no facial paralysis or other complications then. The way we see it, we actually were blessed with 7 additional years of good health.
We have pretty good health coverage. That had always been a priority to us, and it was difficult sometimes as a freelancer. However, it won't last forever so please continue to keep us in your prayers and thoughts. Thank you.
end paste
Thoughts and prayers.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/923775/
I'll be more than happy to send him a hi-res copy if he'd like.
(sends some positive waves SHaron's way)
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10803756/
I wish you all the best of luck.
I can't draw worth spit, never could, and I don't think I have a comic book store near me, although I could check the local big mall. Not sure what else I can do.
Thanks for keeping us updated, Mel.
Just... encourage folks if they're interested in comics to buy new issues of Usagi. Money from old issues won't go to him. He would never ask for a handout, but support by buying a comic book or three would help.
http://www.dailytech.com/Aggressive.....ticle20808.htm
The company doing this is in my backyard. They create gold nanospheres plated with an antibody which attaches to cancer cells and only cancer cells. They then shoot several watts of 808nm IR light into the brain (which brain tissue is almost transparent at that wavelength). The nanospheres absorb the light and get f'ing hot, killing the cancer they are attached to but not hurting any other tissue.
If there is a magic bullet for brain cancer, this is it. It's now in human trials. If she has no other hope, here's a twig...
I do believe in miracles and I will continue to send little notes of encouragement his way.
Having (had) friends and family with terminal cancer, I know how he feels. Sometimes these things turn around, sometimes they don't, and trying to be there and supportive is just so draining because you feel so powerless in the face of it all.
Best wishes to you, Mr Sakai!
=^.,.^=
hm, usagi fan art... dare I?
Yeah, Stevie-G filled me in on this at MidFur. Ack.
Much love to Stan and Sharon