[Patient and family members'names have been changed to protect their privacy]
"Missing the Train"

Bob was a successful businessman, a husband, and a father of four sons. However, instead of staying in his native Australia to enjoy an early retirement, Bob was traveling the world to get his son, Richard, the best available care in the world. After recognizing that the treatment options in Australia were not adequate, the family looked overseas for new, innovative, and advanced cancer therapies.

The family first stop was in their native Australia. Richard, then 18-years-old, had been diagnosed with osteosarcoma on his left distal femur in April of 2006. There, he received, total 8 cycles of general chemotherapy. Instead of helping, he was diagnosed with an aggressive tumor in his chest cavity in February 2008. Eventually, the tumor did shrink, but he still experienced chest pain and dyspnea in late 2008. A CT would later show that he had developed three more tumors in his chest that were unrelated to the earlier tumor. The family was understandably heartbroken when surgical resection (cutting out the tissue) was refused due to the multiple nature of the tumors.

In Copenhagen, Denmark; Bob, Richard and the family saw some hope. There, Richard received addition radiotherapy and low-dose chemo. However, Richard's condition continued to grow more severe. Bob had heard about Fuda Hospital in China that was doing some really innovative and cutting-edge therapies; with one last hope, Bob brought his son to Fuda Hospital Cancer Center in Guangzhou, China.

Upon hospital admission, Richard began my receiving combined immunotherapy from February to March 2009.

Simultaneously, he received transarterial chemotherapy, as well as additional medication to stabilize and increase his white blood cell count. On March 24th, he underwent cryosurgery, as well as brachytherapy (implantation of low-dose radiation iodine "seeds"). He underwent this treatment again in April. He recovered from surgery well on both occasions.

In an impossibly heartbreaking scenario, Richard died; not due to cancer but due to pneumonia complications. The irony is that Richard's tumors had all but disappeared, but this last complication was more than Richard could handle.

Bob once described his son's journey as constantly missing the right train. Instead of getting treatment in Australia, they should have gone to Denmark sooner. Instead of being in Denmark, they should have gone straight to Fuda Hospital; not wasting precious time on ineffective treatment. Bob wanted to let the other patients know that his best advice is to come straight to Fuda Hospital. Despite the final outcome, Bob knew that the doctors and treatments at Fuda cured the cancer, but by "missing the train" and not coming sooner, complications were what ultimately stole his son's very young life.