Johnathan Venable Cancer Journey
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In September of 2023, Johnathan Venable was diagnosed with a very aggressive and rare type of thyroid cancer called Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer (later reclassified to Sarcoma) at the age of 24. Johnathan (aka Alaska), who is a Collin County Sheriff Deputy was in the prime of his life with big plans for his future which included getting married to his fiancé Genevieve in a WEEK and going on their honeymoon in St Thomas. Everything changed that day in September.
In true Johnathan fashion, he had major surgery just 5 days before the wedding. He was up and able to participate in the rehearsal dinner 4 days later with two drain tubes mind you. On the morning of the wedding, he had his drain tubes removed and they confirmed his diagnosis. That afternoon, Genevieve and Johnathan were married in the most intimate, personal and beautiful wedding. Then instead of heading off for their honeymoon, the trip was cancelled/delayed and he had to figure out how to fight cancer with his new wife by his side every step of the way.
After careful consideration, Johnathan and Genevieve decided to head down to MDAnderson in Houston. Johnathan went through 5 weeks of radiation along with what they called baby chemo. At the end of that treatment, they found that the cancer had spread to the lungs. MDAnderson also did genetic testing on his tumor. As mentioned above they reclassified his cancer as an unclassified Sarcoma. Again rare and aggressive but his tumor did show a specific protein that they happen to have a fairly new non-chemo treatment available called larotrectinib that was supposed to stop the growth of new tumors and shrink the ones there now. The doctor was fairly optimistic that this medication could have very promising results. The plan was to do scans at 8 weeks and see if it’s working. He started this treatment in December.
This brings us to this past week (the last week of January). John did develop a cough. His doctor said it was a common side effect of the medication. Six weeks into treatment he started to have pain around his right lung and shortness of breath. Then he spiked a fever. Genevieve took him to the ER where it was determined he had a pleural effusion on the right lung. They have since drained fluid and blood from his lung three times. This last one only 24 hours after the last. It was determined that the tumors in his lungs had gotten bigger and the fluid was positive for cancer. Now the goal was to stabilize him so we could get him back down to Houston with his team of doctors. This brings us to today, February 3rd, 2024. He was released from Baylor on oxygen as his oxygen sats are way too low on room air. He has now been admitted to MdAnderson. We will update when we know more.
Links- Johnathan’s Cancer Journey Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1047742526355568/?ref=share_group_link
In true Johnathan fashion, he had major surgery just 5 days before the wedding. He was up and able to participate in the rehearsal dinner 4 days later with two drain tubes mind you. On the morning of the wedding, he had his drain tubes removed and they confirmed his diagnosis. That afternoon, Genevieve and Johnathan were married in the most intimate, personal and beautiful wedding. Then instead of heading off for their honeymoon, the trip was cancelled/delayed and he had to figure out how to fight cancer with his new wife by his side every step of the way.
After careful consideration, Johnathan and Genevieve decided to head down to MDAnderson in Houston. Johnathan went through 5 weeks of radiation along with what they called baby chemo. At the end of that treatment, they found that the cancer had spread to the lungs. MDAnderson also did genetic testing on his tumor. As mentioned above they reclassified his cancer as an unclassified Sarcoma. Again rare and aggressive but his tumor did show a specific protein that they happen to have a fairly new non-chemo treatment available called larotrectinib that was supposed to stop the growth of new tumors and shrink the ones there now. The doctor was fairly optimistic that this medication could have very promising results. The plan was to do scans at 8 weeks and see if it’s working. He started this treatment in December.
This brings us to this past week (the last week of January). John did develop a cough. His doctor said it was a common side effect of the medication. Six weeks into treatment he started to have pain around his right lung and shortness of breath. Then he spiked a fever. Genevieve took him to the ER where it was determined he had a pleural effusion on the right lung. They have since drained fluid and blood from his lung three times. This last one only 24 hours after the last. It was determined that the tumors in his lungs had gotten bigger and the fluid was positive for cancer. Now the goal was to stabilize him so we could get him back down to Houston with his team of doctors. This brings us to today, February 3rd, 2024. He was released from Baylor on oxygen as his oxygen sats are way too low on room air. He has now been admitted to MdAnderson. We will update when we know more.
Links- Johnathan’s Cancer Journey Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1047742526355568/?ref=share_group_link
Organizer
Shannon McMillan Stopinski
Organizer
Melissa, TX