We are no longer accepting donations here as we need  to focus on Pan Mass Challenge Donations and our combined goal of raising $7,300.00 Click HERE  !   Heidi has made her official goal and I have $764 to go.  She said it is OK if you only give to me at this point.  These funds were raised by friends, family and most of all... over $3,000 from fellow

Nestle employees.  Absolutely amazing!  I thank you all so much, especially the Nestle Triathlon Team.

On October 17th, 2007 Heidi was diagnosed with metastatic Carcinoid Cancer of the small intestine with spread to the regional lymph nodes and both lobes of the liver.  The primary tumor was removed on October 18th, 2007.   The remaining (18-20) tumors in the liver will be monitored for growth through MRI every 4-6 months. 

As a 44 year old daughter, wife and mother of 3 children ages 10, 9 and 8, Heidi has a lot of living left to do.  She is feeling great!  Through research funded by Caring for Carcinoid Foundation (CFCF), we believe a cure can be found to make a difference in Heidi's life and the lives of thousands of others living with Carcinoid Cancer.   www.caringforcarcinoid.org for more information.  For more information on Michael's Dad's battle with cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) click here: www.joesinformation.blogspot.com

Pan Mass Challenge Donations Click HERE  HERE  !

 To send a message to Heidi:  mhcoburn5@yahoo.com

To reach Michael : michael.coburn7@yahoo.com

Latest Updates:

Saturday April 19, 2008 - Yesterday, Heidi and I rode 12 miles on our first outdoor training ride of the year getting ready for the Pan Mass Challenge.  We really enjoyed it.  Heidi did great.  As you can see from the picture, the fitness continues to get stronger.   Today Heidi went to a patient survivor group for her specific Carcinoid Cancer.  There were 25 other survivors and it was great to see all these other people who understand what Heidi is going through.  She even went out to dinner with a few of them.  Dr. Menisha Shah from Ohio State University was the speaker and talked of lots of potential treatment developments and ongoing research.  The kind of research that our Pan Mass Challenge ride works to fund. 

Saturday April 12,  2008:  The results are back comparing the recent CT scan of Heidi's liver with one from 6 months age and the doctor can so no visible change in size.  This is great news!  We are so happy.  On April 26, we are driving to a Carcinoid Conference in Harrisburg, PA where Heidi's doctor, Matthew Kulke, will be speaking among others.  This will be the first time for Heidi to be among many Carcinoid Survivors and it should be a good trip.  The kids will stay with friends locally.

Friday March 28 - We have returned last week from a great week in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  We snow skied every day M-F and had tremendous conditions with 24" of powder falling while we were there.  Fresh snow daily.  Everyone skied great with difficult terrain dominating the mountain we were all able to improve our courage.  The vertical drop is 4,139 ft, the largest in the USA. Heidi is feeling great.  Her training for Pan Mass Challenge continues nearly daily.  We got good news at our visit with Dr. Pelley this week.  The blood tests show no increased activity and the Octreotide scan confirms that the cancer is only in the liver.  Dr. Pelley also reported that he had seen patients this week who were diagnosed in 1988 and 1992.   We continue to be hopeful that this amount of time gives the doctors time to find a cure or effective treatment for this Carcinoid Cancer. 

Sunday March 3, 2008:  Still no scan results but we are not expecting big news from this scan.  Michael's dad had to have a stent put in due to jaundice from the bile duct being blocked by the tumor growth.  Mom and Dad had to cut their trip to the caribbean short for this procedure.  He is doing well and the jaundice is dissappating now.  See is blog link above for continued updates.  We leave for Jackson Hole in two weeks and we are all excited.  Should be great skiing.

Thursday February 21 - Heidi had an Octreotide scan this week.  No results yet as they should come next week.  It should show how receptive the tumors in the liver are to the Sandostatin drug as a way to slow the growth of the tumors.  Right now Heidi feels good and looks great as she has continued to train and eat right.  More later.

Monday, January 21 -    Heidi's Brother John will join us from San Diego on our Pan Massachusetts Challenge Bike ride on Aug 2-3, 2008.   As an Ironman Finisher and a Goofy 1.5 Marathon finisher, John will bring solid training and dedication to this event.  Help all three of us by clicking  HERE  as we now have the large combined goal of $7,300.  Even $10 moves us closer to the goal!  

Wednesday, January 16 - PMC is on!  We are officially registered for the Pan-Mass Challenge charity bike ride.  What that entails is a 47 mile bike ride for Heidi and a 111 mile bike ride for Michael on August 2-3 in Massachusetts.   We will need all future donations to go towards that effort as we need to raise $4,300 total to hit our goal.  These funds will be directed by the CFCF within the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for specific research for Carcinoid Cancer.   The funds which have been raised here will be used for research both inside and outside of Dana-Farber.

Friday, January 4, 2008 - HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Last night Heidi took the kids to the highly popular Hannah Montana Concert in Cleveland.  They seemed to love it and even got the T-Shirt.  I don't even want to know how much the program they brought home cost.  Heidi is training hard on the bike and treadmill for the Pan Mass Challenge.  She got professionally fit on her road bike that Santa brought. 

Friday, December 21 - We have just returned from Boston where we visited with Dr. Matthew Kulke of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.  Dr. Kulke is a researcher of neuroendocrine tumors, a practicing physician and an associate professor at the Harvard Medical school.   He is also the Co-Chairman of the Scientific Board of Advisors for the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation.  Dr Kulke was great to meet with and basically concurred with our Dr. at the Clinic that the next steps are to wait about 3-4 months and do additional scans and blood work.  Dr. Kulke felt that Heidi is very early in the progression of this cancer which is unlike many of the patients that he sees.   He further stated that this cancer could have gone undetected for 5-10 additional years.  So we are  viewing this as bonus time.  As for actual treatment, if the tumors show growth in 4 months when we have another MRI, it is likely that Heidi will go on a monthly injection of Sandostatin® from Novartis.  This has shown some evidence of slowing tumor growth.  It is also used to treat patients who have Carcinoid Syndrome which Heidi does not have.  Carcinoid Syndrome is the result of secretions from the tumors which disrupt the normal hormonal levels in the body. 

Another highlight of our trip to Boston was that we went out to dinner with Nancy O'Hagen and Lauren Erb.  Nancy is the founder of the CFCF and also a carcinoid cancer survivor.  It was great for Heidi to meet such a talented and vibrant person with the same disease as her in Nancy.  Both Nancy and Lauren battled a snowstorm to pick us up and make us feel immediately at home in a far away place.  We appreciate them and CFCF even more now.  We are now getting ready to do the Pan Mass Challenge, Aug 2-3, 2008 on the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation team. 

Monday, December 17 - Heidi had a good doctor visit today at the Cleveland Clinic.  Her levels which indicate whether the tumors are producing hormones or secretions were in the normal range, lower than last time.  This is good news and indicates doing nothing but revisiting in 3 months for more blood tests.  We will see how this compares with the doctor in Boston on Friday.  The MRI showed that the three largest tumors in the liver are in all lobes but located peripherally which means that they are good candidates for RFA and/or resection.   RFA would be the likely route when called for, which is cooking them in place.  By the way today is our Great Dane Frederik's 1 year birthday.  I let him play in the 8 inches of snow we got over the last day and a half.

Tuesday December 11 -  We finished getting the Christmas decorations up last night.  Michael's parents are arriving this Saturday to celebrate our own version of Christmas early.  Heidi is doing well.  I thought it was fun to change the picture to the one of her giant striding into the ocean in Bonaire for a snorkel outing we did while we were there in January.  That is Annelise our 9 year old already in the water.   We enjoyed our round of parties over the last two weekends and it is amazing how well you feel the next morning when you don't drink alchohol.  I played basketball after one and went trail running in the national park after another.  Sad news at work as I lost a co-worker to a massive stroke at age 44 following a surgery.  This happened out at our California customer service center.  It really makes you realize that every day is something to treasure.

Friday, December 7 - Heidi must be feeling better,  I came home from a one day business trip to Texas and the entire house was clean and organized.  The local ski areas are making snow and the family is getting excited about skiing and Christmas.  I have so appreciated the support from my co-workers as I visit the customer service centers.  We have so many special people around us. 

Monday, December 3 - Winter has hit Northeast Ohio.  We have our Christmas decorations up and the kids are more excited about Christmas this year than maybe ever before.  This will be the first time we are home at our house for Christmas in a long time.  We have a wooden calendar with 25 doors on it leading up to Christmas day.  We used to put candy behind each door with 3 pieces per day.  This year with the kids help, we switched it to one special thing and the kids are taking turns opening doors.  We watched Polar Express last night and set up our Polar Express train under the tree as well.  What a great magical story that is.  The kids and I also watched the Ironman Hawaii telecast together.  Some powerful stories there.  You know the show has a high production value if the kids would sit there and watch the whole thing with me when telecasts of triathlon are generally pretty boring.  The girls had horseback riding and Connor had baseball camp on Sunday.  Heidi is doing well.  We went to the Gathering Place for a kid shop on Saturday where there is a support group for kids who have a parent touched by cancer.  We all like it a lot.

November 29, 2007 - We are doing well.  We have Dr. appointments on Dec 17 and 21 for our first and second opinions at the Cleveland Clinic and Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.  From there we will determine next steps in treatment of the tumors in the liver.  It will likely indicate radio frequency ablation of the 3 largest tumors which are around 2cm x 2 cm.  We had an MRI of the liver done this past Monday which should give us the best view of the tumor activity in the liver.  At this point we don't suspect the cancer is anywhere else in Heidi's body. 

On the fun side of things, we are going to holiday parties 3 of the next 4 weekend nights.  We have booked a week long ski trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming with our friends Steve and Alaine Malerick and their sons for spring break in March.  Our lifestyle has changed to vegetarian with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as no alchohol and lots of exercise.  Heidi is walking most days either in our fitness room in the refinished basement or with a friend at the local health club.

- Michael Coburn

Donating  HERE through this PMC website is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to support Heidi's journey.

Many thanks for your support -- and don't forget to forward this to anyone who you think would be interested in a progress update!

This page maintained by Michael Coburn (818) 269-5634