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Author Topic: Founding Member  (Read 4726 times)

bioangel5

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Founding Member
« on: March 29, 2011, 11:10:38 pm »
Hello Everyone,
  My name is Angela J. Mitchell. My father Peter M. Gamache was one of the original Founders of the Acoustic Neuroma Association. My father was only the third in Boston to have ever had Acoustic Neuroma in 1976. He and an elite team of Doctors, Ginny Finkle, Fr. Gagne and several others created the first Acoustic Neuroma Association Symposium. Through the success of the surgery,the doctors and much support, my father lived until 2006. He was very proud of the work that has been done and the research that has come far. I was under the impression that the ANA was stagnate and I am thrilled to find that it is alive and well. As I child I have watched progress and healing from this surgery on so many levels. My father always believed in survival based on research and progression. His dream of being able to connect with those thatare enduring and have endured this rare Brain Tumor. Thank you for keeping his hopes alive! I look forward to hearing from all of you.   
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Jackie

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Re: Founding Member
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2011, 01:31:03 am »
Well Bless you Angela,

Thank-you for checking up on us and thanks to your dear father for helping start the ANA. You should be very proud, as this forum has been a Godsend to so many of us.
I have NOT had treatment, but have been a member for 4 years now in the Watch and Wait (and pray like crazy) mode. I just can't say enough about this forum, the members and those that moderate and watch over us! What a Blessing to be a part of all of this. I am sure your father would be so very pleased at how this has evolved. May he rest in peace.
Jackie in Oregon
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9mm x 11mm Right Side AN mild Tinnitis, and 60% hearing loss
Diagnosed 02/04/2007
Nov.13th, diagnosed with 5mm Meningioma
9/24/08 diagnosed with Aneurysm
Wait and watch per ENT's advice and researching my options!!! What's next???

suboo73

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Re: Founding Member
« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2011, 05:38:17 am »
Hi Angela,

It is wonderful that you have rediscovered the ANA - thank you for stopping by!
You should be VERY proud of what your father started with the Association.
(If he were alive today, I would love to have a chat with him!)

I am here with my sister and extremely grateful to all those who have contributed in any way.

God bless you!

Sue
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suboo73
Little sister to Bigsister!
9mm X 6mm X 5mm
Misdiagnosed 12+ years?
Diagnosed Sept. 2008/MRI 4/09/MRI 12/09/MRI 1/21/11
Continued W & W

Kaybo

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Re: Founding Member
« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2011, 06:11:52 am »
What your father helped to start has been a Godsend to so many through the ANA and this Forum...you must be SO PROUD!!  Thank you to you for all he did!

K   ;D
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Translab 12/95@Houston Methodist(Baylor College of Medicine)for "HUGE" tumor-no size specified
25 yrs then-14 hour surgery-stroke
12/7 Graft 1/97
Gold Weight x 5
SSD
Facial Paralysis-R(no movement or feelings in face,mouth,eye)
T3-3/08
Great life!

jaylogs

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Re: Founding Member
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2011, 06:16:33 am »
It is an honor to meet you Angela!  I constantly thank God for helping me find this community, as it has been a huge source of relief and information for me.  I truly believe in paying it forward so I try as much as I can sharing my experiences to those just finding out about their AN's, hoping it will bring some level comfort.  A very grateful thank you for your dad and all that he did and thank YOU for sharing as well!
Jay
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8.1mm x 7.8mm x 8.2mm AN, Left Ear, Middle Fossa surgery performed on 12/9/09 at House by Drs. Brackmann/Schwartz. Some hearing left, but got BAHA 2/25/11 (Ponto Pro) To see how I did through my Middle Fossa surgery, click here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jaylogston

CHD63

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Re: Founding Member
« Reply #5 on: March 30, 2011, 08:19:11 am »
Hi Angela .....

So glad you posted to let us know a little more history about this wonderful organization.  You should be very proud that your father was instrumental in starting something that has been such a source of support, knowledge, and inspiration to so many of us.  I regret I was never able to meet him ..... he had to have been a great man!

Thank you for sharing with us and do visit often!

Clarice

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Right MVD for trigeminal neuralgia, 1994, Pittsburgh, PA
Left retrosigmoid 2.6 cm AN removal, February, 2008, Duke U
Tumor regrew to 1.3 cm in February, 2011
Translab AN removal, May, 2011 at HEI, Friedman & Schwartz
Oticon Ponto Pro abutment implant at same time; processor added August, 2011

Cheryl R

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Re: Founding Member
« Reply #6 on: March 30, 2011, 09:31:37 am »
Angela,    The ANA has been such a help to us with ANs and a godsend for information to help us.       I will be attending my 5th symposium this summer due in time my being found to be NF2.     They have all been wonderful and to see the information which is improving so much over time.                 It is great to hear from you here and about your father  and the help he gave!
                                                                Cheryl R
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Right mid fossa 11-01-01
  left tumor found 5-03,so have NF2
  trans lab for right facial nerve tumor
  with nerve graft 3-23-06
   CSF leak revision surgery 4-07-06
   left mid fossa 4-17-08
   near deaf on left before surgery
   with hearing much improved .
    Univ of Iowa for all care

bioangel5

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Re: Founding Member
« Reply #7 on: March 30, 2011, 12:12:06 pm »
To All of You-
  It is magnificent to meet all of you. I am humbled by all your inspiration from those that "watch and wait" to way beyond post-op and treatment. In observance and participation of my father's remarkable life,I have seen Miracles in advances of Acoustic Neuroma. It is a banner of hope and Progress. I thank all of you for being such a big part of this Foundation and the visions of Ginny Fickel and my dad had. I still hold tribute to the late Dr Ojemann and the entire staff of Mass General for my father's life.
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Sue

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Re: Founding Member
« Reply #8 on: March 30, 2011, 12:28:38 pm »
If it weren't for the pioneers in this life, where would any of us be?  They lead the way.  Thanks to your father, this ANA site is the gold standard for the entire world. 

Hugs,

Sue in Vancouver, USA
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Sue in Vancouver, USA
 2 cm Left side
Diagnosed 3/13/06 GK 4-18-06
Gamma Knife Center of Oregon
My Blog, where you can read my story.


http://suecollins-blog.blogspot.com/2010/02/hello.html


The only good tumor be a dead tumor. Which it's becoming. Necrosis!
Poet Lorry-ate of Goode

Jim Scott

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Re: Founding Member
« Reply #9 on: March 30, 2011, 01:11:55 pm »
Hi, Angela ~

We're pleased that you discovered the ANA website and discussion forums.  I appreciate your gracious comments, too. 

Your late father did, indeed, possess a rare prescience about the future of acoustic neuroma treatment and I'm glad that he was able to live to see the great advances in treatment for ANs and that you can appreciate them, too.  We're pleased and honored to keep his hopes alive via this website and, specifically, these forums.  I can state without equivocation that I'm proud to be a part of them. 

Jim
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4.5 cm AN diagnosed 5/06.  Retrosigmoid surgery 6/06.  Follow-up FSR completed 10/06.  Tumor shrinkage & necrosis noted on last MRI.  Life is good. 

Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is.  The way we cope with it is what makes the difference.

lauralynn

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Re: Founding Member
« Reply #10 on: April 12, 2011, 04:01:35 pm »
Hello Angela,

This forum has been a true blessing to me.  I come here just about everyday...sometimes spend hours reading posts and posting some too.  I am very thankful that your father  was a huge part of this site!  How sweet of you to come here to see how the site is doing.  I have made wonderful friends here and have been fortunate to have met some of them in person.  This is where my AN family is so I will continue to come to this site to reach out for help and also to try to help others.  We are one big family here...going through many struggles through our AN journey but there are definately lots of blessings along the way. 

God Bless,

Laura Lynn
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4 cm left AN/diagnosed 1/23/09
Translab 4/14/09
Cyberknife 7/09
Gold weight implant 8/09
Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix
Dr. Syms and Dr. Porter
Balance issues, 100% hearingl loss (left ear), tinnitus, facial numbness/pain,
chronic fatigue, weakness, eye issues

God Bless everyone

Larry

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Re: Founding Member
« Reply #11 on: April 12, 2011, 05:07:52 pm »
Angela,

Thx for connecting to this site. As others have said and will continue to say, this site has provided advice, based on experience, support to those that need it, a place to vent where we all understand others' pains and also a fun place to communicate. There have been numerous brunches and get togethers, friendships made, fun posts where we become kids again etc etc.

Your father's insight is to be commended.

cheers from down under


Laz
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2.0cm AN removed Nov 2002.
Dr Chang St Vincents, Sydney
Australia. Regrowth discovered
Nov 2005. Watch and wait until 2010 when I had radiotherapy. 20% shrinkage and no change since - You beauty
Chronologer of the PBW
http://www.frappr.com/laz

ombrerose4

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Re: Founding Member
« Reply #12 on: April 12, 2011, 06:44:41 pm »
Angela,

Your father must have been an amazing person. Thanks to him we all have a home, a place to go to for help, information, caring, laughing and crying. The ANA and this forum have been a lifeline to myself and many others. Without this forum, many of us would have been alone in our AN journey, but instead we have a family that supports on through good days and bad days. As a new support group leader for ANA New York City, I am glad to be able to play a small part in continuiing your father's dream. God bless him and you and your family.

Lauren
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Retrosigmoid 9/24/09
AN 2.4+ cm left side
Mount Sinai Hospital, NYC (Dr. Bederson and Dr. Choe)
BAHA surgery 1/4/2010
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