sizescatteredacrossbothhemispheres.Theexperimental
drugwasnotdesignedto crosstheblood-brainbarrier.
PF0231006 was not going to work.
AndstillSara,herfamily,andhermedicalteamremained
in battle mode. Within twenty-four hours, Sara was
broughtintoseearadiationoncologistforwhole-brain
radiationtotrytoreducethemetastases.OnFebruary12,
shecompletedfivedaysofradiationtreatment,whichleft
herimmeasurablyfatigued,barelyabletogetoutofbed.
Sheatealmostnothing.Sheweighedtwenty-fivepounds
lessthanshehadinthefall.SheconfessedtoRichthat,
for the past two months, she had experienced double
vision and was unable to feel her hands.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” he asked her.
“I just didn’twant tostop treatment,”shesaid. “They
would make me stop.”
Shewasgiventwoweekstorecoverherstrengthafterthe
radiation.Thenwehadadifferentexperimentaldrugshe
couldtry,onefrom asmallbiotechcompany.Shewas
scheduled to start on February 25. Her chances were
rapidly dwindling. But who was to say they were zero?
In1985,thepaleontologistandwriterStephenJayGould
publishedan extraordinary essayentitled “TheMedian
Isn’ttheMessage”afterhehadbeengivenadiagnosis,
three years earlier, of abdominalmesothelioma, a rare
and lethal cancer usually associated with asbestos
exposure.Hewenttoamedicallibrarywhenhegotthe
diagnosisand pulledoutthelatestscientificarticleson
the disease. “The literature couldn’t have been more
brutallyclear:mesotheliomaisincurable,withamedian