For Kevin and Brenda Boitson, life was good. It was June of 2008 and the blissful newlyweds were looking forward to another summer of surf fishing on Assateague Island, MD, and day trips to surrounding cities.

But life changes quickly and the Lancaster, PA-based couple was visiting Kevin's family in Winnipeg when the sore throat he had been battling for three weeks became too much to bear. As soon as they got home, Kevin was able to get an appointment with a gastroenterologist and the next day, after a stat endoscopy, the doctor told the Boitsons that the pain in Kevin's throat was being caused by a mass that he believed was cancerous.  

Searching for Answers

The biopsy of Kevin's tumor was sent to pathology for identification, and in the meantime, a PET scan was performed to look for any other cancerous cells in his body. It was confirmed that the tumor in Kevin's throat was cancerous, but the pathologists were unable to identify the type of cancer. By July 28, Kevin was in the emergency department at the local hospital with severe pain. He was running a fever and now also had pneumonia. A battery of tests was performed, including a second biopsy, as the expert pathologists at Johns Hopkins also were unable to identify the original tissue.

From there, things happened quickly for the Boitsons, and their summer of camping, relaxing on the beach and laughing with friends and family was quickly transformed to a frightening new life of feeding tubes, tricky procedures and a horrible new vocabulary--and never enough answers.

On August 8, Kevin underwent an emergency esophagectomy due to a possible perforation in his esophagus. The surgeons hoped to remove the tumor at that time, but it was a high-risk surgery, and they were unable to remove his tumor as it had attached itself to Kevin's other organs.

Finally, A Diagnosis

The doctors still didn't know what kind of tumor Kevin was dealing with. After a few more days of ups and downs with the ventilator, fevers and unidentified infections, there was finally a name for the monster ravaging Kevin's once fit and healthy body--it was angiosarcoma, an incredibly rare and aggressive tumor that develops in the blood vessels and connective tissues.

According to the American Cancer Society, sarcomas comprise just 1 percent of cancer cases, and angiosarcoma makes up 1 percent of all sarcoma diagnoses. It most frequently occurs in the heart, breast and skin, but Kevin's tumor ran the length of his esophagus, from his mouth to his stomach, making his tumor even more unusual. Surgery wasn't an option, as his tumor had no definable margins. The prognosis was grim, but the Boitsons were a couple of great strength and faith and refused to give up hope.

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