DR. PARRY GUILFORD

 

This man right here is the man, the myth, the legend....he is nothing short of amazing and someone I really look up to.

Meet Dr. Parry Guilford. He is the Director and Principal Investigator of the Centre for Translational Cancer Research in New Zealand. HE is the man who discovered the CDH1 mutation and continues to research it.

I have been in contact with him through email and he is kind, caring, and quick to reply back with any questions I have had.

He just received a 5 year Grant from the New Zealand Health Research Council to continue strong research on the CDH1 mutation and HDGC. He is EXTREMELY confident that by the time Paige is able to decide if she wants to test for the mutation (she has a 50% chance of the mutation), that she will NOT have to have a total gastrectomy. He has spoken, before, about Chemoprevention Approaches...specifically one where 1 week every 5 years, these kiddos (grown at this point) would take a low toxicity chemoprevention medication to avoid HDGC. They are "making great progress identifying weaknesses in the cells with CDH1 mutations and there are a few drugs which are looking promising (at least in cell culture experiments)." It's unlikely that they will have something set in stone within the next 5-10ish years, but "hopefully we will have started trials by then." "It will take quite a long time before we are confident that the chemoprevention drugs are working."

Hearing all of this great news from Dr. Parry Guilford makes me SO happy...my whole day, week, month, and year were MADE hearing that Paige and any of her cousins IF their parents test positive will NOT have to have a TG and there will be other options!! :) :) :)

Like I said, Dr. Parry Guilford is nothing short of amazing and I appreciate ALL he has done for myself, my family, and other CDH1 families. I don't think he realizes how great he truly is, but I have tried to let him know exactly how I feel!!! <3