Son of former MSU football player has inoperable brain tumor

Submitted by UMfan21 on

Say what you want about the school Josh Thornhill attended, no parent should have to go through this.  Given our support of #ChadTough, I'm hoping maybe we can point the money cannon and help out this family.

Josh Thornhill is a good guy.  I played against him in high school. He married a classmate of mine.  I'm sure donations from the Wolverine faithful would be very helpful to the family in their time of need.

https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/2018/07/09/michigan-state-football-captain-josh-thornhill-kaleb-thornhill-charles-thornhill/767500002/

bluegoinggray

July 10th, 2018 at 9:45 PM ^

Pediatric brain tumors don't recognize alma maters, school loyalties, politics, religions, or any other human affiliations. They are awful, as so many physical afflictions are. If we can't rise above these things to support people facing these dire tribulations in their times of need, then we need to rethink our priorities. 

Justibro

July 11th, 2018 at 9:43 AM ^

I can't remember in regards to the polio vaccine but there have been some promising results in terms of cannabis oils (not sure which specific aspect as I haven't done tons of research in that area) in regards to brain tumors. 

Justibro

July 11th, 2018 at 11:26 AM ^

Its not BS information. The term promising results refers to that while we have seen promising results we don't have enough evidence to note if its coincidence, placebo effect, or the actual treatment. And for the reasoning we don't have much research is due to testing w/ cannibis based oils (again may be using the wrong term as the actual substance I am unsure) is in its infancy state. 

Arb lover

July 11th, 2018 at 5:07 PM ^

The reason we don't have much evidence is because the research is in it's infancy... 

The evidence for why Cooley law school is the best law school in the country is also in it's infancy, but you can't logic some people.

Also back to topic, I hope the state people point their money cannon here, since so many I have talked to recently have said they just can't donate this year. This seems like a great place to do so for msu fans that has nothing to do with scandal and everything to do with love of state. Thanks for the link, going to have to share.

MGoStretch

July 11th, 2018 at 1:00 PM ^

Has there been though?  I'd be quite interested in a link to those results. I suspect you're thinking of CBD oil, and I also suspect what you're referencing is a few people in online chatrooms reporting it cured their kiddo's cancer.  As in, the info is so preliminary or flawed that it isn't worth considering it promising (at least not yet).
Sincerely,

A pediatric oncologist

The polio stuff on the other hand, probably does show some intense, preliminary promise:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/26/health/brain-cancer-poliovirus-study/index.html

TMS-Mr. Ace

July 11th, 2018 at 8:02 PM ^

Cumong man. You linked a cancer.org overview. And with that, massively misrepresented what they said. 

You: "CBD has actually been shown in early studies to slow or halt growth in the cells of some types of cancers."

Them: "More recently, scientists reported that THC and other cannabinoids such as CBD slow growth and/or cause death in certain types of cancer cells growing in lab dishes. Some animal studies also suggest certain cannabinoids may slow growth and reduce spread of some forms of cancer.

There have been some early clinical trials of cannabinoids in treating cancer in humans and more studies are planned. While the studies so far have shown that cannabinoids can be safe in treating cancer, they do not show that they help control or cure the disease.

Relying on marijuana alone as treatment while avoiding or delaying conventional medical care for cancer may have serious health consequences."

You see why what you said is bullshit, right? This is why it's important to call things like this out. You took a tiny sliver of truth, linked a respectable source, and then threw in an inaccurate paraphrase to help bolster your point.

Healthy skepticism indeed.

RationalBuckeye

July 11th, 2018 at 11:24 PM ^

C'mon man. I have no agenda in this argument. All I said was that studies have shown that CBD oil has been shown to slow or halt cell growth. I didn't specify the types of trials and I didn't deny the fact that the findings have been extremely limited and not yet studied very extensively in actual human subjects (although there are ongoing studies on the issue and hopefully we'll know more soon enough)

RationalBuckeye

July 11th, 2018 at 6:11 PM ^

Yeah, the Polio vaccine trial actually cured a patient (brain cancer is typically incurable) when used in a trial at Duke University. 

There are new trials using immunology that are super promising, but I don't think children are eligible for most of them, sadly. 

Read this: https://www.roswellpark.org/media/news/fda-awards-orphan-status-brain-cancer-vaccine-developed-roswell-park-comprehensive-cancer

 

MGoStretch

July 11th, 2018 at 8:28 PM ^

So not to rain on your parade, you seem like a rational guy, but brain cancer is actually often curable, but it very much depends on what kind you're talking about.  There is a tremendously wide spectrum of sub-types of "brain cancer" that range from no current chance for a cure all the way to "we'll just resect this and you'll be cured".  I'm not saying alternative medicine is all hogwash, there's a lot out there worth investigating, but it's also worth doing the science right before hopping on the weed hype train.  It's not hard to kill cancer cells in a petri dish, it's quite easy actually.  Bleach will do it, hand soap will do it, warming them up a bit can kill them too.  The trick is being able to selectively do so while keeping a patient safe, the studies that I've read require much higher CBD doses than you'd be able to safely achieve in a patient.

On a positive note, at least you're also not entirely right about kids not being eligible for most immunotherapy trials.  Kids were actually some of the first patients to received CAR-T cells for leukemia treatment, and that's revolutionizing how we treat cancer.  I've seen patients who have relapsed 3 times get into remission with those cells and they previously had no chance.  There are a multitude of antibodies out there, PDL-1 inhibitors, etc... that kids are eligible for.  That being said, kids cancer research absolutely needs more funding, we lag significantly behind the adults.

RationalBuckeye

July 11th, 2018 at 11:35 PM ^

52% of brain tumors are glioblastomas, right? That's a whole lot of brain tumors that are treatable, but generally not curable. 

Regarding the statement about children not typically being eligible for immunotherapy trials, the only area in which I'm knowledgeable here is regarding brain cancer, so I was referring only to that. I'm under the impression that many of the most promising trials for GBM using vaccines to promote  immune response to fight the cancer are being offered to adults only, but I'd love to be wrong. After all, brain cancer is the second most common cancer in children, correct? 

MGoStretch

July 12th, 2018 at 12:35 AM ^

Actually not, GBM definitely does not make up 52% of pediatric brain tumors, the majority or medulloblastomas and gliomas (of which GBM is just one of a slew of subtypes). Here’s a decent review some of my friends put together.  https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/centers_clinics/brain_tumor/center/pediatric/tumors/index.html

I get the sense you’re coming from an honest place, so I’m curious where the 52% came from.

With regard to your second paragraph, you’re right that brain cancers as a collective group are the second most common cancer in kids, but again, the spectrum of diagnosis captured under the umbrella term of “brain cancer” is so diverse, for the sake of your argument about GBMs and immunotherapy trials, it doesn’t really make sense to refer back to brain cancers as a whole.  

Here’s what I think everyone can agree on, cancer of all varieties sucks, we need to be better at treating it, and kids cancer research is underfunded compared to adults (I may be a bit biased on that last one).

mjv

July 11th, 2018 at 11:49 AM ^

Thanks for posting the GoFundMe link. As a father of three boys, this type of thing cuts me to the core. And I would imagine that each donation, regardless of size, would mean so much as it would let the family know that there are a lot of people pulling for them.