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Monday, January 12, 2015

January 5, 2015 Update


Mark had CT scans of his pelvis and chest on January 5, 2015
Of his nine tumors in this area, most have decreased in size by an average of 15%.
The largest tumor, was 7.9 cm on 10/16/14 and has shrunk to 5.2 cm on 1/5/15
In late January he will have a brain MRI.  Listed below are the tumors identified on the last scan.
Mark is ever grateful for your prayers on his behalf.
                             
Adrenal left
Adrenal right
Kidney
Bowel
Mesentary
Mesentary
Mesentary
Nodes
Lungs
Lungs
 

Friday, October 31, 2014

Mark Sykes Health Status Update 10/30/14

Mark again thanks everyone for their thoughts and prayers on his behalf as he continues to fight his cancer.  He has finished radiation for his adrenal gland tumor and will be shifting medications in a few days to try to shrink all remaining tumors since a few have grown a bit in his lung and bowels.  The bowel tumors caused some partial obstruction a week or two ago but that cleared up without requiring any surgery.  The new medication, debrafanib, will be an oral pill similar to the one he took a couple of years ago (that long ago!) which melted most of his tumors away and hopefully will do the same now.
 It will take eight weeks to see a response to the debrafanib, so he will get updated scans around Christmas.  As the tumors break up and enter the body’s clean up system, hopefully his immune system will recognize the pieces as foreign and start fighting the melanoma cells more effectively.  This “vaccine effect,” in concert with the IV medications he has received and may receive again, will hopefully help prevent new tumor cells from growing.

 Ever the warrior, Mark keeps a great attitude and continues to go to work every day. Meg keeps him going with her positive attitude and faith, as well as her special green shakes. Thanks for your support!
Scott Sykes

Wednesday, October 8, 2014








Update 10/5/2014

Mark continues to be tremendously blessed—thanks for your prayers and support. It has been some time since the last blog update, largely because there has been little to report. He has continued to feel reasonably well and has continued to carry on with life in his usual fashion—working and playing hard. As you probably know, he successfully completed the 206 mile Logan to Jackson bike race, something unheard of for someone fighting stage 4 cancer.
Mark’s most recent scans showed stability in most of his tumors, regression in some, and mild enlargement of a couple. He has a tumor that has grown in his adrenal gland, so in the next few weeks he will receive radiation treatments to this tumor which should stop its growth. He will continue to receive his monthly IV anti-melanoma infusion which incidentally was recently approved by the FDA as it was shown to be a successful medication, so it is no longer considered experimental.
Thank you for your ongoing prayers and thoughtful gestures to Mark and his family.

Scott Sykes

Lotoja


by Mark Sykes
edited by Diane Sykes Bartholomew
September 10, 2014

I've got a red blood spot on my eye from LoToJa.  Does anyone know a good ophthalmologist? 

I rode in LoToJa (a 200 mile bicycle race from Logan, Utah, to Jackson Hole, Wyoming) last Saturday.  My brother Scott supported me last year and promised to ride with me if I chose to attempt it this year.  I’ve felt weak since my brain surgery last December; I've also been taking a trial infusion drug that makes me tired and sluggish. Yet, all summer Scott and I met up three times a week in Chad Carson's basement for training.  We rode bike trainers hooked up to computers--Chad is quite scientific about his training, and he pushed us hard.

As LoToJa approached, I resolved to make the attempt, despite my weakened condition. Friday evening my mom, two of my sons (Bennion and Maxwell), and I travelled to Scott’s house. We inventoried our supplies and reviewed our strategies.  At 4:30 Saturday morning we made our final preparations and drove to Logan. With a pack of 50 riders, Scott and I crossed the starting line at 6:36.

This is my 5th LoToJa.  In the previous 4 races I rode effortlessly with the pack through the flat 35 mile section to Preston, Idaho (there are only two or three real hills in this section). But this year by the time we reached the first hill I had already fallen far behind the pack.  I simply wasn’t strong enough to keep up.  Scott came back and “pulled” for me (he rode in front of me at a pace I could maintain to create a draft for me to ride in).
We arrived at Preston 30 minutes behind my predicted schedule.  Mom, Bennion and Maxwell met us and replenished our drinks.  Over the next 30 miles we climbed 2,500 feet to the summit of Strawberry pass. Scott pushed me up the hill.  Literally, pushed me.  He rode on my right a few feet behind me with his left hand in the small of my back, pushing me so that I gained 1-2 mph.  When his left arm tired, he switched to the other side.  He continued this for the next 140 miles.

Chad had prepared a cocktail of pills for symptoms we would feel at different stages of the event.  At the base of  the steepest climb—the King of the Mountain--I vomited, thus losing all the nutrients of Chad's carefully calculated cocktail. At that point Scott silently ceded that we would not cross the finish line.

Scott's tire went flat within sight of Afton, Wyoming.  Fortuitously, a helpful WY highway trooper gave us a ride the remaining kilometer to town where we received refills--physically and emotionally---from Scott’s wife, Jen, and Scott changed his tube.

Between Afton and Alpine we fell in with a good group of riders and settled in to a nice rotation of pulls (I took no pulls but Scott and the others did). Among the riders we met a friendly fellow named Rhett.  He stayed with us for the 50-mile stretch from Afton to Hoback Junction.  Sometimes both Rhett and Scott pushed me at the same time.  Our two support vehicles manned by Bennion, Jen, Maxwell, and Mom leap-frogged us--stopping about every 5 miles to cheer us onward. 

We arrived at Hoback Junction at about 7:15 p.m. A sign at Hoback informed us that we still had 29 miles to the Finish. To finish by the 8:30 cut-off time would be impossible.  After a brief rest at Hoback, Rhett zoomed off to finish before 8:30, and Scott and I resumed our plodding pace.  As the sun set and the sky darkened Scott stopped to get headlamps out of the support vehicle and affix them to our helmets. I left my helmet with him and proceeded alone.

I continued riding for about five miles before Scott caught me.  He was surprised to see that I had no helmet and no light. Hadn't  Bennion brought it to me? Scott had attached a headlamp to my helmet and sent Bennion to deliver it to me. However, I had already taken a "racers only" turn, and Bennion couldn’t deliver the helmet.  Scott then removed his helmet and placed it on my head--he rode bare-headed for 10 or 15 miles in full dark.  We reached Wilson where the bike path merges with a highway.  Even though official race time was over, a LoToJa volunteer was still there flagging us in the direction we should go.  We rode on the shoulder of a busy highway for 2 or 3 miles. Scott rode behind me and directed his flashlight to illuminate the reflective material on my gear so I would be visible to drivers. When we turned a corner for the last six mile stretch to the finish we met up with Bennion and finally retrieved my helmet.

I was entirely spent by this time.  I had been on my bike pedaling for 14-hours.  I had been riding for several hours with my elbows locked because my triceps had failed me.  Now my right arm could not grip the handlebar.  Only if I stopped pedaling and stood on the pedal on my left leg could I use my back muscles to relieve the right arm—but then I wasn’t pedaling.  Scott pushed me the last few miles, with me alternating pedaling and resting.


We saw the Finish from over a mile away.  The race coordinators removed the timing strips at 8:30, but the finish line was still lit up at 9:00. We crossed the finish line 14½ hours after departing from Logan. Our support crews and several race volunteers welcomed us with much celebration.  We collected our “Finisher” medals and posed for photos at the finish line.

After Scott and Jen left to travel back home Mom, Bennion, Maxwell and I drove to a KOA campground where we had reserved a cabin for the night. As I reflected on the LoToJa experience I felt brimming with appreciation for a remarkable family, and most directly, for a phenomenal brother. Scott physically pushed me for more than 140 miles, at considerable expense to his knee from the added burden; he showed vast wisdom by concealing his doubts about our finishing; he sacrificed his safety by giving his protective helmet to his brother with stage IV cancer.

The next day, at Maxwell’s insistence, we stopped at Lava Hot Springs on the way home. That’s when I noticed a blood spot on my eye.

Which reminds me, does anyone know a good ophthalmologist?

Sunday, July 13, 2014

PD1 cancer treatment trial

In the last week of June Mark started a clinical trial with a drug called PD1. He receives infusions every three weeks and will know if it is working after 12 weeks. Mark and his physician are very hopeful, especially given how well Mark has responded to other treatment regimens.