Possible cancer connection

[Dorothy]

My 25 year old son was diagnosed 9 years ago with WG, has been in remission for the last 6 years. He was just diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Has anyone else on the site had thyroid cancer? I don't think it's related to WG but I don't know. Thanks for your help.

[crackers]

six months after being diagnosed with WG i underwent emergency surgery for colon cancer.i've been two years clear now but can't say if the two were connected.
john.

[Sangye]

Any time the immune system is compromised for an extended amount of time, the risk of all types of cancer increases. This is because certain white blood cells called Natural Killer Cells (NK cells) look for aberrant cells and kill them before they multiply. If WBCs are chronically suppressed, there are fewer NK cells in circulation and it's easier for cancer cells to reproduce and form tumors.

Has your son been in a drug-free remission all these years? If so, then it's possible that the cancer cells began growing way back when he was on the meds. It can take many years for enough cancer cells to accumulate to form a tumor.

How are they treating it? What's the prognosis?

[elephant]

Dear Dorthy, I was told that thyroid cancer is very treatable, that's what the doctor told me back then. I had a scare back 1997, after special testing it was just hypothyroidism. How is he doing?

[Dorothy]

He's hanging in there. Surgery is a week away and yes, it is very treatable. The thyroid is removed and you are treated with isotope radiation about 6 weeks later which kills any remaining thyroid cancer cells. I was just wondering if anyone else experienced this. Thanks for your concern.

[Dorothy]

Yes, he has been in a drug-free remission. He was on cytoxan for almost 2 years - tried to get off twice but relapsed almost right away. He stayed on it and then switched to Imuran. He was weaned off that and stopped taking everything else (much to my concern he even went off Bactrim) and has been fine for 6 years. I have hypothyroidism but there isn't any thyroid cancer in our family. My sister has lupus so we do have autoimmune diseases in the family. As I said, the prognosis is good, we'll know more after the surgery a week from tomorrow.

My thoughts are with all of you - we've been through this WG stuff and it's hard - I wish you all better health.

[Sangye]

Let us know how everything goes with your son. I hope the surgery goes well.