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May 21, 2008 5:37 pm US/Eastern
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Man Who Survived Brain Tumor Holds On To Hope
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
Senator Ted Kennedy is out of the hospital and back at home after being diagnosed with a deadly brain tumor.
Healthwatch Reporter Kellye Lynn sat down with a man who has the same form of cancer and is holding on to hope.
Like Ted Kennedy, Bob Gunter had no idea he had a tumor growing on his brain. Doctors say had he waited a week longer, he may not have been around to talk about his disease today.
Since getting the diagnosis a little more than a month ago, 54-year-old Bob Gunter has endured 13 radiation treatments, chemotherapy and surgery, all in an effort to fight a dangerous form of brain cancer.
"It's kind of scary, knowing that they'll cut you right open and you don't know if you'll wake up," Gunter said.
Last month, surgeons removed the deadly mass from Bob's brain. The tumor, known as malignant glioma, had grown to the size of a tennis ball.
In Senator Ted Kennedy's case, doctors have only mentioned radiation and chemotherapy, which leads University of Maryland oncologist Young Kwok to believe surgery is not an option.
"Typically, the larger the tumor, the less likely it can be fully removed," Kwok said.
That leaves the chemotherapy drug Temodar as a likely option. Kennedy will probably also undergo multiple radiation treatments. With or without surgery, the prognosis for malignant gliomas isn't good.
"Almost all of the tumors, even after complete surgery and aggressive therapy, almost all glioblastomas return," Kwok said.
That's a dose of reality that doesn't rattle Gunter. With the tumor out of his body, he considers the battle won.
"In my mind, they saved my life and I'm going to go with it until they get it right and done," Gunter said.
There are some other therapies that appear to hold promise. A colon cancer drug known as Avastin has been found to shrink gliomas and researchers are also testing a vaccine that uses the body's immune cells to fight the cancer. Both of those approaches are considered experimental and need further study.
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