Clayton Health Update - 6/9/25

From Darby: We have had several things happen over the last few weeks since the last update. Clayton had to have his third port taken out because of the way it was healing so his doctors decided to try a smaller port put in his bicep to see if his body would tolerate that better. His surgery for that was June 2nd, and so far he has tolerated it well! His doctor, Dr. Nichols, put three layers of stitches and staples in to hopefully make that sucker stay put! 😆 He also had a PET scan done on May 27th, right before we left for family camp and we have been waiting to meet with Dr. Shalaby since then, to go over those results. We went in for treatment this morning and to meet with Dr. Shalaby to compare his PET scan results from last year and to see how this second treatment has been working since last December.

The new PET scan shows a small new growth in his chest, and on his T4 on his spine, and a little increase in size on the L5 spot that was already on his spine from December. These spots are not very big yet, but they are growing, so Dr. Shalaby does not think this treatment is worth straying on considering the side effects and is referring us to San Antonio to start clinical trials. So we ended up not doing treatment today since it does not seem to be very beneficial. His CEA number has also gone up outside of the normal range again (normal is under 3, and his is back up to 4.1). So it’s time to start looking at other options. We also have other traditional treatments we can come back to here if we need to, but for now he feels like this is the right step!

We do not have any answers yet as to which trial Clayton will start- we are waiting to have a virtual consultation with the doctor that Dr. Shalaby is sending us to, to see what she suggests, but he believes the side effects will be minimal, and the results will be better. We also know for sure it will be a trial with no placebos. We are honestly excited to try something that is more advanced and possibly better suited for Clayton! Please be praying for us to be able to manage all of the travel and scheduling of the clinical trials with the balance of normal life, for us all to have a peace about whatever trial they suggest for Clayton, and for our family to handle this season well. We feel encouraged about this next step and that we are starting it while Clayton feels good and is healthy and strong! Thank you so much for checking on us still on such a long road, it means so much to us ❤️