Beau Biden Has Mass in Brain

[hack89]

Source: NBC

Biden, 44, spent the night at a the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas for tests to rule out cancer.

NBC10 News medical correspondent Nancy Snyderman said that sources familiar with Biden's condition said that a biopsy would be conducted and that it could take days for the pathology to be studied under a microscope.

A mass isn't necessarily cancerous and can be anything ranging from an aneurysm to a hemorrhage to something else.

Read more: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Beau-Biden-Hospitalized-Undergoes-Tests-220287801.html

---

Sending positive thoughts to Beau and the Biden family.

[JustAnotherGen]

1. n/t

[LordGlenconner]

2. Family history with that

Hopefully his experience with this turns out as well as his father's did.

[SkyDaddy7]

38. Here you go...

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/04/us/biden-resting-after-surgery-for-second-brain-aneurysm.html

[MotherPetrie]

3. Oh, man. Me, too.

[PatrynXX]

9. sounds familiar

both great grandad and grandpa had something in their head go out and they ended up 10 % there till the end

Grandpa fell in late 2006

Sometime in early 2007 he fell again and had the issue. Seeing an active grandpa around one moment and someone barely there in a wheel chair til Dec 13 08 wasn't entirely fun . but we made the best of of. I've got a Vestibular issue because of an old medication I was on and now I get massive migraines. which for an hour on the 7th of july made me lose it. couldn't literally put 2 words together... Best wishes to Joe and family

[Frustratedlady]

4. Oh, no! Such a nice, young man. I pray it is benign. eom

[sinkingfeeling]

5. The Bidens don't deserve this. They've been through enough.

[MADem]

6. Oh. Shit. Please let it not be a gioblastoma.

Please let it be a dumbass lump that can just be excised and he goes on with his life.

Please.

Someone close to my family was treated at that hospital, sadly he didn't make it. He had a gioblastoma and succumbed, eventually, but hung on for many years.

I wonder if he has the same sort of AVM as his father had.

[DFW]

14. I thought the same thing

I lost my brother in law to one. He was 51. They had given him 4 months and he held on for 3 years, but there is no cure for it. It killed an aunt and one of her children, my cousin. He was only 41.

Maybe Beau will get lucky, and it will be something else.

[MADem]

17. His father had not one, but two, AVMs--every time I see his big smiling face, I think, damn--it is a

MIRACLE that dude is alive.

If you ever watched the HBO series Six Feet Under, the character "Nate" in that program died of one of those.

If it does turn out to be a gioblastoma (the long goodbye, as we learned from Teddy Kennedy), he's at a good facility for treatment, and they keep doing research to further extend lifespan and beat back those things. The person I know who was treated there hung on for five impossible years--all but the last year were with a reasonable --not the best, but not awful--quality of life. He had two operations where they dug the frigging thing out. Helluva tough ride.

[DFW]

20. Not a ride I want to take

I might yet, and I'm due for cancer of some kind (both parents and all their siblings had it).

I don't get HBO in Germany. I don't get any US TV at all there. I just get video clip links or DVDs sent over.

[MADem]

21. If you can buy (probably get a good price second hand), rent, or borrow from a library that

Six Feet Under series, you'll probably be surprised at how much you enjoy it.

It's a quirky series set in a funeral home. The guy who plays Dexter plays the "good" brother who stayed home to run the family business; the other brother with the AVM (which doesn't come up in the first few seasons, sorry for the spoiler) is a free spirit who ran off to the Pacific NW to work in an organic grocery, and returns home after a major family event.

I enjoyed the hell out of it.

[Happyhippychick]

26. One of the best shows ever made

There wasn't a single character that I disliked, they were all fascinating and quirky. Also the best series finale EVER.

[MADem]

35. +1,000 !!!! nt

[Beacool]

41. I used to love that show.

[MADem]

44. Me too--it was a family event to sit and watch it! nt

[Beacool]

46. I liked watching the beginning of the show and seeing what happened to the person

who would end up in their funeral home. I remember one woman who lived alone and choked on her food. After that, if I was alone I would eat ever so carefully. LOL!!!

Morbid, but fun.

[MADem]

47. I had a few favorites, too...

The poor lady who got hit by the "blue ice" from the plane in her yard....

The one that pictured a woman who, frustrated at her husband's constant, didactic yammering, cracks him with the cast iron skillet, then sits down and eats the breakfast she had just made for him!

The poor woman who stuck her head up out of the limo and kissed the stoplight!



Horribly morbid--but .... wonderful!!!

[Beacool]

57. Yeah, there were many of them that were quite ingenious.

All in good fun since it was fiction.

[Gormy Cuss]

22. Glioblastomas suck.

Younger glioblastoma patients are more likely to respond to aggressive therapies and live several years but it's still an early death sentence.

[riverbendviewgal]

31. I hope not too

My son and ted kennedy had this type of tumour. Chances then were 5 percent live past 2 years. My son had just about the same treatment as kennedy. My son survived 18 months. He was 26.

My friend was diagnosed with a slow growing one and lived 10 years.

Hope Beau will be okay.

[MADem]

36. 26? Jesus, that's just too young. I am so sorry. nt

[riverbendviewgal]

54. thank you I appreciate your kind words

The good do die young and they believe it can happen to them. Cherish those you have here you have and love the memories of those who no longer are here with you.

[MADem]

62. I agree with you -- time flies.

Some days I wake up and I'm ... insulted!!! ... that I'm not sixteen anymore! Where did those decades go?

We can't go back and do it over again, all we can do is press on with awareness that life is short and there are no do-overs.

[Beacool]

42. I'm so sorry for your loss.

The daughter of one of my mother's friends died of a brain tumor at a very young age too. My mother would freak out every time I would get a headache.

There are no words to console someone who has lost a child. My thoughts are with you and your family.

[riverbendviewgal]

52. there are no words BUT acknowledgement means alot

Being Canadian I am here on DU because I do want stress that Obamacare may not be as good as Canada's universal health care but it is a heck of a lot better than what is there now for those in USA who have none.. EVEN young people die or get seriously sick. Healthy right up to the seizures he never had before and 3 days later having a brain operation. My son died the year he was to marry. There were no medical bills for us to have to pay. No treatment denied. AND HIS Dad was diagnosed 2 months after our son with non Hodgkins lymphoma. He got all he could get to live but he died 18 months after son died. No medical bills and there was $2300 for each of them toward funeral expenses for me to use.
Those on DU keep up the fight. We are rooting for you up here.

[Beacool]

58. Wow, you have gone through a real hard time!!!!

I'm sorry, life just sucks sometimes. I hope that when we're gone we get to see our loved ones once again. I hope that your son and his father are together.

Thank you for supporting your Southern neighbors. Your health system is a lot better than what we'll have here, but like you said, it's better than what we currently have.

[riverbendviewgal]

53. I appreciate your kind words

He will always be in my heart and thoughts.

Fight for your universal health care. It is what we in Canada will fight for and Never give up.
Harper is toast. He wants to privatize. He is joke.

[Beacool]

59. Of course he is, a parent will never forget a child that is gone.

As for Harper, I hope that you guys get rid of him. Best wishes with that!!!

[LisaL]

7. He had that "mild stroke" in 2010. I wonder if it was caused by a mass back then.

Hopefully it's benign.

[greatauntoftriplets]

8. Oh God.

I wondered when he went to M.D. Anderson. That's not good.

[hamsterjill]

10. I hope it will be something easily handled.

Must be very frightening for him and the whole family. I wish Beau and all of the Bidens the best.

[LibertyLover]

11. Last night on Facebook

a "friend" posted something about how Beau Biden had become disoriented and predicted it would be found that he had "doing a Biden", whatever the hell that was supposed to mean. Several other "friends" liked the post. I decided that I'd had enough and posted that Beau was a veteran who had served honorably, had already survived a stroke and that while it was perfectly alright to disagree with his political views, to make fun of someone with a potentially life threatening condition was tacky and unworthy of the poster. I'm pleased to say that several other friends, whom I know to be conservative Republicans "liked" my comment. I truly hope for Beau and his family that whatever has been discovered is benign and highly treatable.

[young_at_heart]

15. Thank you for doing that

There are so many Americans that know very little about the people they disparage!

[DesertRat]

40. Good for you

Hopefully you opened some eyes.

[Beacool]

43. Good for you!!!

There's politics and then there's human decency. Politics is not even in second place when a person' life is at risk.

[alsame]

12. Hoping for the best. nt

[mtasselin]

13. Good Luck

Good Luck Beau, will be watching and hoping the best for you.

[TBF]

16. He's in the right place -

if anyone can help him MD Anderson can.

There are a lot of negatives about living in Texas but our medical center is second to none.

[kentauros]

30. I'm glad he's at M.D. Anderson, too.

And while I'm certainly biased as a Houstonian, it is considered one of the best cancer centers in the nation.

For those that want to look up where he's getting his care: http://www.mdanderson.org/

[TBF]

18. Local story in our Chron - the VP is in town as well

dined at D'Amico's last night

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Biden-remains-in-Houston-today-while-son-is-at-4745032.php?cmpid=hpbn

[Wait Wut]

19. Oh no.

I love Beau as much as his father. I see great things coming from him.

My best to the Bidens.

[Cooley Hurd]

23. Kick and rec - get well Beau!!!!

He's my 2nd cousin, once removed.

[kestrel91316]

24. Oh shit.

[Hekate]

25. KnR and all best wishes to Beau and all the Bidens

[eissa]

27. Sending positive thoughts Beau's way

I love the Bidens, and while no one deserves this, I feel especially so for this family. Joe has seen enough tragedy, and no parent should witness their child suffer.

[gopiscrap]

28. Prayers and positive thoughts for the Biden's

will mention on prayer card this Sunday!

[ZRT2209]

29. shit

[Faygo Kid]

32. Lost a dear friend and wonderful boss to this

One in his 40s, the boss (and friend) in his 50s. Hoping for the best, but this has never ended well in my experience.

The Bidens have seen more than their share of tragedy. Hope this isn't another.

[yesphan]

33. Godspeed Beau.

All the best........

[Peacetrain]

34. Oh no ... good thoughts and prayers

sent to his family.. They have suffered so much through the years..

[SunSeeker]

37. Brutal.

[winter is coming]

39. Damn. I hope they can treat him successfully. n/t

[Beacool]

45. I was hoping that it wasn't a tumor.

Beau is only in his early 40s and has a young family. I'm also feeling sad for Joe. He already lost a wife and child, I only hope that he doesn't lose another one.

My thoughts and prayers are with Beau, Joe and the rest of the family.

[PDittie]

48. "Successful procedure", goes home tomorrow

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/08/beau-biden-undergoes-successful-procedure-in-houston/

[Arkana]

49. Jesus.

I...just...holy shit.

I can only imagine how ol' Diamond Joe must be doing right now .

[Enthusiast]

50. Sorry to hear this........nt

[ismnotwasm]

51. Thoughts, hopes and wishes

For the best possible outcome

[Botany]

55. I wish it was me rather then Beau

This is not about politics but about being human ..... I hope that it all turns out
O.K. in the long run.

[Beacool]

56. Don't say that.

What's happening to Beau is terrible, but I'm sure that your family would miss you just as much.

[davidpdx]

60. I am so sorry to hear that

My best to Beau Biden and his family.

[sheshe2]

61. I don't really pray anymore...

at least not in the conventional way.

However my heart is there for Beau and the rest of the Bidens.