Avastin

Avastin is the name of the drug that the doctor wants John to take. Avastin is the tumor blocking medication that I mentioned earlier. It targets the tumors and the blood flow from them so the tumors cannot grow. It has really no side effects! Dr. Gray wants him to take these because he believes that they may lengthen John's life by 20 years. If this medicine works John will have to stay on it for the rest of his life.

Avastin has been approved by the FDA for seven different types of cancers. Unfortunatly it has not been approved for ACC by the FDA, because it has not been tested on ACC. It is so rare that they don't have enough patients to really do clinical trials on. We have been told by Dr. Gray's patient advocate that Avastin will probably not be covered by insurance. They are still filling out paper work to see if they might.

We are praying and hoping that the insurance will cover some of it and that John can get the help he needs to survive this cancer. I talked with the insurance company for a while yesterday and if we have to appeal it, then it is up to us write a letter letting them know why John should be able to receive these benefits from the insurance. No pressure of anything!!

If he gets it he will have to go to the doctors office every 2 weeks and get an infusion, (like chemo) but no hair loss, and no nausea!! Why wouldn't John want to do these right?? Even if the insurance covers them we still have a spendy out of pocket copay every time. But it's worth it for John's life!(John as a young boy, with a mullet I must add)