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Sarcoma Knows No Borders

Brenda Sieglitz

• 1 min read
Sarcoma is a cancer of the connective tissues, such as nerves, muscles, joints, bone, or blood vessels. It can arise anywhere in the body and is frequently hidden deep in the limbs. Between 15-20% of all children's cancers are sarcomas. However, it is more rare in adults and only 1% of adult cancers are sarcomas. There are two basic categories of sarcoma, soft tissue sarcoma and non-soft tissue sarcoma. Angiosarcoma, the type of cancer that Kevin had, only accounts for 1-2% of all SARCOMAS. This makes his type extremely rare. There are no known causes of Angiosarcoma, other than some very isolated incidents involving the manufacturing of PVC piping. Kevin’s Angiosarcoma was formed by the blood vessels and ran from his mouth to his stomach. Unfortunately, because Angiosarcomas are so aggressive, they do not normally present symptoms until the later stages of the diagnosis. This makes treatment options very minimal. Chemotherapy does well to shrink Angiosarcoma, but there is no known cure, and Angiosarcoma almost always recurs. One of the biggest hurdles with any type of Sarcoma cancer, is its lack of funding and awareness. The more people who know about how devastating Sarcomas are, the more detection and treatment options will be available. Please consider making a donation in Kevin’s honor to the Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative which will help with Sarcoma research, as well as helping other families who are being affected by Sarcoma. Thank you for all your support during this devastating time in our lives. Sarcoma Knows No Borders. http://www.sarcomahelp.org