NEWS/MEDIA

The Dominion Post Date: 05 Jul 2005 Page: A 6

Buying hope to beat death

Author: MACDONALD Nikki

THE backyard trampoline takes a beating from the two boisterous young sons of Dave Bowman and Penny Clevely.

Daniel, 7, is a little more conservative than Zac, 5, who leaps like a maniac from the treehouse above to belly-slam the canvas. Despite their enthusiastic play, the boys have some inkling of the fact their father has been body-slammed to a depth from which he is unlikely to bounce back. "The kids we answer honestly, but they still see me looking healthy and well," Mr Bowman says.

In January this year - just a few months after passing a full medical for a diving certificate - Mr Bowman was diagnosed with glioblastoma, the most common and fast-growing form of brain tumour.

When the first seizure struck, paralysing him, Mr Bowman thought he was dying. "I remember thinking to myself, the kids were too young to lose their dad."
And he still believes that. Which is why the family have scrambled to find $26,000 for his only hope of buying more time - a chemotherapy drug called temozolomide.
When Mr Bowman woke up from the first seizure after about a minute, the paralysis had gone. Emergency department doctors found nothing but he was referred to a neurologist. When almost the same thing happened two days later, it was clear there was something seriously wrong.

Again there was no obvious cause, but after family pressure, he was given a CT scan. The diagnosis was written on the doctor's face - glioblastoma is a death sentence. Fast growing and aggressive, the disease usually claims patients within 12 to 18 months.

Mr Bowman was given the only treatment available - surgery to remove the tumour, followed by radiation therapy to kill any rogue remaining cells to prevent it recurring. He was told he could have radiation therapy only once because a second dose would "turn his brain to mush". Chemotherapy, which was not particularly effective, would be considered later, if the cancer returned.

When he first got home, he was "pretty devastated" and did not want to know. But he quickly decided to fight. "I'm not going to just roll over and take this." His wife, Penny, researched the condition on the Internet and came across temozolomide, known in New Zealand as Temodal. Asking around, they found it was not even licensed in this country for newly diagnosed tumours, let alone funded. But not trying the best hope around was not an option, Mr Bowman says. His parents even offered to sell their house to help pay.

He began taking the drug three months ago. It is too early to tell if it has made a difference, but it has given the family hope and allowed them to take some control.
"Every day I have with Penny and my children is a day I have got to cherish. What else could I do without spending that? There is virtually nothing you can do." Brain tumour patients should get the same deal as everyone else - access to the only effective treatment around, he says. "Other cancers, such as prostate and breast, have made great advancements in the treatment and prevention. "But not so for brain. This is a real big step forward and the first time some real funding has been put into trialling a drug for brain cancer. It's kind of like it's our turn."