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20yr old son diagnosed with Stage 4 Liver Cancer (HCC)

ZJBC75
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My baby was diagnosed with stage 4 hepatocellular carcinoma with pancreatic met, with a 67mm x 57mm x 60mm lymph node mass infected with liver cancer cells wrapped around his aorta, but not putting pressure on it. The oncologist also mentioned they believe he also has cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer). He only turned 20 on Halloween, never smoked, only drank on special occasions, just starting his adult life.

He only presented mild symptoms in late September but refused to see the GP until he collapsed at college in early December.

By Dec 11th he was rushed into A&E, CT scan on the 16th, a biopsy on the 21st, diagnosis on the 30th and started his first round of immunotherapy treatment on New Year's Eve!  He finally came home on the 4th of Jan.

Has anyone here got any experience with immunotherapy treatments for cancer? My son is on the combination therapy Atezolizumab and Bevacizumab. The oncologist stated that chemo and surgery is not an option at the moment.

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    Hello ZJBC75, 

    A warm welcome to our forum and I am so sorry to hear about your poor son being diagnosed at such a young age with stage 4 HCC and that bile duct cancer is also suspected. I cannot even begin to imagine how you are feeling at the moment. It must be so hard for you as a parent to watch him go through this and I just wanted you to know that we are there for you and I hope that you will meet others here who have had a similar diagnosis or also supported a child during treatment for cancer. 

    I hope that the immunotherapy treatment goes well for him and that it is effective. You will find in-depth information on liver cancer on our page here and we also have a page on bevacizumab and another one on atezolizumab here. If you wanted to read more about bile duct cancer, you can read more about it here. 

    Should you wish to talk to one of our nurses at any point or if you have any questions, feel free to give them a call on this free number 0808 800 4040  - their line is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. 

    We're thinking of you during this difficult time. I hope your son is happy to be back home after the first round of treatment and that he is resting well. 

    Best wishes, 

    Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

     

  • Offline in reply to Moderator Lucie

    Thank you for your kind reply.

    Unfortunately because of Covid even the Teen & Young Adult Cancer ward took a hit on low staffing levels and my son missed out on pain meds on several occasions.

    Now he's home he has 1 to 1 care, his pain meds on the dot and given meals he can manage better. He is also mildly autistic so the missing and poor timing with pain meds and having food available really messed with his mental health which absolutely compounded his stress and anxiety over his diagnosis.

    He's much happier at home.

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