Family Battles Rare Stomach Cancer
Local Hospital Performs Surgery To Prevent Disease
POSTED: 3:25 pm EST December 11, 2008
UPDATED: 1:00 pm EST December 12, 2008
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BOSTON -- A family at high risk for stomach cancer comes to a Boston hospital to undergo rare surgery. As News Center 5's Heather Unruh reported Thursday, the radical surgery could save their lives.
Family Battles Rare Stomach Cancer "My mother died of stomach cancer back when I was a kid," said Ken Chelcun, of Huntersville, N.C. "A year and a half ago, my brother was having problems with his stomach. He's in stage four cancer."Chelcun's family could not understand why stomach cancer appeared to be targeting them. His older sister, Karen Chelcun Schreiber, was determined to find out why. Tests revealed a shocking discovery."Out of the six who have been tested, we're six for six. All six have the gene," Chelcun said.His family has a 50/50 chance of carrying a rare, inherited gene that dramatically increases their risk of developing stomach cancer. Only about 100 families in the world have tested positive for the gene."For males a risk of developing (stomach cancer) is 67 percent by age 80. And for women, it's over 80 percent," said Dr. Sam Yoon, a surgeon with the Mass General Hospital Cancer Center.Yoon says their best hope for stopping the disease is endure radical surgery, a procedure Chelcun and his sister have both had."You have to remove the entire stomach, because the entire stomach is at risk of developing cancer," Yoon said. "Once they have it they're never going to get gastric cancer."Yoon has performed eight stomach removal operations at Mass General."The average person loses 20 percent of their body weight," he said. "They have to essentially graze eat little bits constantly throughout the day."Yoon says patients are limited to soft foods after surgery, but their bodies soon learn to adapt to life without a stomach."My sister has been doing it for three months, and she's been watching our kids for seven days and she's doing great," Chelcun said.A brother and sister, choosing to face life without a stomach to survive."I've been given a second chance at life. Catching it ahead of time, finding out there's a gene and being able to do something about it," he said.
Family Battles Rare Stomach Cancer "My mother died of stomach cancer back when I was a kid," said Ken Chelcun, of Huntersville, N.C. "A year and a half ago, my brother was having problems with his stomach. He's in stage four cancer."Chelcun's family could not understand why stomach cancer appeared to be targeting them. His older sister, Karen Chelcun Schreiber, was determined to find out why. Tests revealed a shocking discovery."Out of the six who have been tested, we're six for six. All six have the gene," Chelcun said.His family has a 50/50 chance of carrying a rare, inherited gene that dramatically increases their risk of developing stomach cancer. Only about 100 families in the world have tested positive for the gene."For males a risk of developing (stomach cancer) is 67 percent by age 80. And for women, it's over 80 percent," said Dr. Sam Yoon, a surgeon with the Mass General Hospital Cancer Center.Yoon says their best hope for stopping the disease is endure radical surgery, a procedure Chelcun and his sister have both had."You have to remove the entire stomach, because the entire stomach is at risk of developing cancer," Yoon said. "Once they have it they're never going to get gastric cancer."Yoon has performed eight stomach removal operations at Mass General."The average person loses 20 percent of their body weight," he said. "They have to essentially graze eat little bits constantly throughout the day."Yoon says patients are limited to soft foods after surgery, but their bodies soon learn to adapt to life without a stomach."My sister has been doing it for three months, and she's been watching our kids for seven days and she's doing great," Chelcun said.A brother and sister, choosing to face life without a stomach to survive."I've been given a second chance at life. Catching it ahead of time, finding out there's a gene and being able to do something about it," he said. Copyright 2008 by TheBostonChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
