My new Appendix Cancer Connection Website just went live!! I had a great designer and we exchanged a whole lot of emails to get it right! I’m hoping the site comes up in the Google rankings soon, not much good to have a site if no one can find it. There are some new pages and it is organized differently from my old site. I think it is much more attractive and still easy to navigate. What do you think?
I am now a 16 year cancer-free survivor of Signet Ring appendiceal cancer. I’ve lost my fear of the cancer recurring, I’ve even forgotten the date I was diagnosed and the date I finished treatments, two dates I had in my head for years. I am very blessed.
I hope through this site to provide education and support to those diagnosed with appendix cancer. We all need both, and both are hard to find. I do have this new blog and have added forums to this website. I hope those of you who come here will visit both! I founded the Appendix Cancer Connection in 2008, it is a 501C3 charity, so all donations are tax deductible. Initially the name of the organization was the Abdominal Cancer Connection, since there are a group of cancers that can cause tumors to grow in the abdomen and that can be treated as appendix cancer is treated; ovarian cancer and recurrent colon cancer are two others. In the end though, I felt patient’s with appendix cancer needed their own organization as our cancer is so rare and there are so few resources available for it. I changed the name to the Appendix Cancer Connection.
I’m sorry to say I won’t be able to make it to Heat it to Beat It in Baltimore this year. I made it to the first five years and loved it! Had a health issue that prevented me from going one year (not cancer!!), a work conflict the next year, and this year I’m on vacation that weekend, should have checked the date before I scheduled my vacation! I WILL make it next year and hope to meet many of you there!
If you are not familiar with it, here is the Heat It To Beat It link:
The money raised from Heat it to Beat It is devoted to research on cancers that can be treated with HIPEC, heated chemo poured directly into the abdomen. It is much more effective than IV chemo for abdominal cancers. It is used for appendix cancer, but is also now being used for ovarian cancer. Ovarian and appendix cancer have a lot of similarities. If you look at the new page on my site, published research, you can see where some of these dollars have gone.
I hope you are able to find my site and blog, look forward to hearing from you if you do! Feel free to comment here or to email me!
Carolyn
Love the new website, congratulations! So happy that you are doing well and enjoying life! I am also enjoying life after 11 years post HIPEC. Thanks for continuing with this website and the wonderful information!
I have been diagnosed with Appendiceal Cancer Stage 3. I was going to have an appendectomy, but surgeon found a mass had perforated the appendix and stuck on to the lower colon and intestine. He had to cut lower colon and small intestine and reconnect. Took out those parts plus the appendix and mass. He said the mass was part tumor and part mucinous material. I have just started chemo every other week. AT first I get sustol and decadron; then Oxaliplatin along with Leucovorin for 90 minutes. Then a booster shot of 5-FU fluorouracil followed by 5-FU Fluorouracil pump which I wear home for 2 days. Nurse comes to disconnect the third day. Next day I get a shot of Neulasta. My question and prayer is has this regiment cured Appendiceal Cancer? Any one with Appendiceal Cancer survived with this treatment?