Based on some data I reviewed presented by Van der Sluis, Wolfe, etal, even cumulative doses of 45 Gy and higher with breast cancer patients receiving radiation from the sternum up were candidates for motor neuron disease diagnosis. Thank you for bringing this up, Brian. I won't be shy, I have delved into this since 2007 and I have even tried to encourage Wolfe to reopen the study in hopes of identifying biomarkers to be able to try and predict outcomes like mine before the treatment plan is final. England is doing this and I tried to get involved as a patient advocate.

As you stated, not enough data points to generate interest. By the way, I happen to be a person that has battled this malady since 2007, while the majority of those studied were beyond 10 years, as high as 20 years out. If anyone comes forward and you can get any action from the medical community, please include me in any way possible. One question I have searched for an answer to is how do we measure an adequate supply of lower motor neurons? If damage to the anterior horn is truly the truly the etiology, there has to be someone willing to research this.

Thank you for this post!


SCC Stage IV, BOT, T2N2bM0
Cisplatin/5FU x 3, 40 days radiation
Diagnosis 07/21/03 tx completed 10/08/03
Post Radiation Lower Motor Neuron Syndrome 3/08.
Cervical Spinal Stenosis 01/11
Cervical Myelitis 09/12
Thoracic Paraplegia 10/12
Dysautonomia 11/12
Hospice care 09/12-01/13.
COPD 01/14
Intermittent CHF 6/15
Feeding tube NPO 03/16
VFI 12/2016
ORN 12/2017
Cardiac Event 06/2018
Bilateral VFI 01/2021
Thoracotomy Bilobectomy 01/2022
Bilateral VFI 05/2022
Total Laryngectomy 01/2023