On May 14, 2016, Lauren called me up with severe heartburn pain that

wasn’t going away.  She had experienced this before since she was a

little lactose intolerant and she also suffered from acid reflex.    We went

to   the emergency room at UCLA where they ran all kinds of tests and

blood work. The CT scan showed that there was a mass on Lauren’s left

Adrenal Gland.   Lauren was admitted to the hospital where a team of

doctors went over her test results.  The CT scan showed that there was

a mass on Lauren’s left Adrenal Gland.    The mass centered within her

left upper quadrant and was 16.5 cm and weighed 3 ½ lbs.  This mass

encompassed Lauren’s kidney and pressed on her pancreatic tail and

spleen.  

 

We were told that the mass had to be surgically removed and that the

urologist at UCLA was one of the best.    On May 19th the urologist

performed Lauren’s surgery.   The doctor said that he would try to save

Lauren’s kidney.  It was a long surgery, and the wait seemed like forever.  When the doctor came out of surgery, he indicated that he saved a good amount of Lauren’s left kidney, removed the mass, and a couple of lymph nodes.  He suspected that the mass was cancerous, but he needed to wait for the pathology report to confirm.    He also felt that Lauren had kidney Cancer and that there was no chemo and radiation treatment needed for kidney Cancer, but he felt that he removed any sign of the mass.  Lauren was discharged from the hospital on May 24th, while we waited  for the pathology report.  We were never given the first pathology report because we were told it was inconclusive and that the UCLA Pathologist team were looking to get a second opinion.  The surgeon/doctor told us not to worry.  It took almost three weeks after Lauren’s surgery to get a pathology report.  The surgeon called Lauren on June 2nd and said that her diagnosis and prognosis had changed.  The second pathology report diagnosed her with Adrenal Cortical Carcinoma.  Adrenal Cortical Carcinoma is a one in million type of Cancer.  He told Lauren that she needed to see an oncologist.

 

 

 By the time Lauren was able to see an oncologist at UCLA it was already July 7th.  This was almost two months after being admitted to UCLA hospital.  All this time went by without her having any kind of treatment. The oncologist wanted her to have a pet scan. The pet scan showed that the cancer had spread to her lungs and other areas.  The oncologist said that Lauren needed to start chemo right away.   Lauren was not happy with the oncologist.  Also, the urologist that performed Lauren’s original surgery wanted to operate a second time, but we lost all confidence in him.   We had a second opinion remotely on July 8th, with a doctor from the University of Michigan.  He recommended chemo and mitotane.  We wound up at flying to NY where we had appointments with the doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital on July 16th. The surgeon at Sloan Kettering said that surgery wasn’t an option at this time and the oncologist said that chemo combined with mitotane would be the best option.  Their oncologist also said that Lauren could have the chemo in California.  This way she could rest at home after the chemo was done.

​

Lauren started seeing another oncologist at UCLA.  The oncologist admitted Lauren to the hospital on August 2nd where she had chemo for four days The plan was for Lauren to have two consecutive monthly treatments of chemo before doing another scan.    Lauren seemed to be doing okay but by the time she had her second chemo treatment in September, her health started deteriorating and a scan showed that the chemo wasn’t working, and the Cancer spread even more.  No one said that Lauren was terminal, but her oncologist wanted us to pursue immunotherapy at UCLA.  I already had a doctor as a backup plan for her immunotherapy.    I took Lauren to see the doctor and he said that Lauren was a viable candidate for an immunotherapy drug.  On October 6th, Lauren had her first treatment of OPDIVO, but on October 9th Lauren started experiencing chest pains at home. We tried reaching out to her doctor that administered the OPDIVO, but we couldn’t get a hold of him. On October 9th we took Lauren to the emergency room at Cedar’s Sanai Medical Center.  UCLA had all her records, but we didn’t want to take her there.  UCLA had misdiagnosed her and didn’t provide her with adequate care.

 

Cedars did a chest scan and said that Lauren was riddled with cancer and that there was nothing that they could do.  They also said that her heart was okay and that they could keep her overnight to monitor and control her pain.  Lauren was discharged that same day.

 

On October 11th Lauren passed away at home.  She was only 30 years old with her whole life ahead of her.

 

Lauren always wanted to have children.   This never came to be. 

 

The Lauren Dorfman Memorial Charitable Foundation mission will be to help children in need.

 

This is what Lauren would have wanted.  May her memory and legacy last forever.