Update on Jason Anderson's stomach cancer:

We found out today that the cancer has been staged as metastatic disease (Stage IV). At his endoscopic ultrasound last Friday, the doctor biopsied an enlarged lymph node in his chest, and it came back positive. This makes the cancer metastatic.

What does this mean?

Because Jason is young and healthy, the oncologist wants to treat this cancer more aggressively than they usually would. We're really thankful for that. Metastatic disease is generally considered incurable, but we'll treat with the goal of him beating the odds, praying the intense treatments will kill all the cancer cells. 

At this point, he won't be having stomach surgery; we need to focus on systemic treatment.

We expect chemo and hope there will be other forms of treatment he'll be a good candidate for, but we're waiting on results of molecular testing of the tumor to determine that. It would be VERY good news if he qualifies for immunotherapy or other targeted therapy. (If you pray, that would be a good thing to pray for.) 

We're still going to get a second opinion at MD Anderson and are certainly open to any clinical trials that might help him.

It's really hard sharing this information with you, but I wanted to get it out there. Please understand this is all really fresh, and we're trying to process it. Please don't stop reaching out—we need the support. But understand if we don't have the bandwidth to reply right now. Your messages of love will mean so much. Your prayers mean so much too.

We continue to pray for a miracle, while we also gear up for a hard fight.

–Beth and Jason

You're always welcome to look at past emails here. Just be aware this site includes my weekly author newsletter as well as my emails about Jason; I can't split them up!