Letter From Sherrill Nielsen
This letter by Sherrill Nielsen was just sent to ElvisMatters.
Hello dear friends
Sherrill and I are touched by the out pouring of love and concern for his health. I thought I would give you all a recap of what we know thus far. In January, Sherrill and Brenda Nielsen along with Sherrill and the Elvis Connection (Bill Baize, Ed Hill and Butch Owens) performed in Denmark. While in Denmark, we rushed Sherrill to the Emergency Room only to find that he had a blood clot in his left leg. That didn't slow down the concerts (we were celebrating Elvis' birthday and we did that in style).
Upon returning home to Alabama, he developed a dry non-stop hacking cough, they treated him for Pneumonia. It continued to worsen, and finally, we got referred to a Pulmonary Specialist who started running CT Scans, PET Scans and they showed a suspicious object in his lungs. They did a CT Needle Biopsy of the lung and found out that he has Stage III non small cell adenocarcinoma in the upper right lobe of chest and into lymph nodes. It is inoperable at this time, so they must kill and shrink the cancer first.
Last week he started his chemo therapy treatments and found that he was a candidate for a new drug Erbitux, which they started Thursday. He will start radiation this week. So his schedule will be chemo once a week, Erbitux once a week, and radiation every day. They will do this for 2 months and then reassess the situation. He is weak but in good spirits, particularly knowing that there are many people throughout the world that love him and are praying for him. We are believing God for his healing. For those of you who know him well, know that he has been a "health nut" for many years. Hasn't smoked in 37 years, rides his exercise bike 15 miles every day, watches his diet religiously and does not have a sign of cancer on either side of his family. So this has been a shocker.
Keep up the prayers and we'll have him back on the road to Europe..... and as Elvis would say "he is my favorite tenor".
Love to all
Brenda Nielsen
Sherrill sends his love
