December 17, 2006

Hello all,

Many of you may not know me, but I am Meghan Blackledge, Georgia Scobee's daughter. For those of you who are getting this news for the first time via email, I apologize for the electronic notification, but I hope you will understand and not hold it against me.

On Monday, December 11, Georgia went to her orthopedist for a routine MRI to discover the source of leg pain that had been bothering her for several weeks. The MRI revealed a large mass at the top of her right femur (thigh bone) inside her hip joint. The orthopedist immediately referred her to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas and arranged for her to meet with a local oncologist the next day.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Georgia underwent a bone scan and a PET/CT scan to look for signs of metastasis (signs of other tumors elsewhere in the body) to indicate if the tumor had spread or if the tumor was the result of some other mass in the body. On Friday, December 15 we received the wonderful news that there were no signs of any other tumors in her body! (The thoughts and prayers are working - please keep it up!) We are still unsure if the tumor in her hip is benign or malignant and we will not know for certain until a biopsy is performed, which will be done at M.D. Anderson at some point.

We have an appointment with an orthopedic oncologist at M.D. Anderson early on Tuesday, December 19. We will be traveling to Houston tomorrow (Monday, December 18). At this point we are unsure how long we will be staying in Houston and what the treatment protocol will be, but we hope to have more information about both of those things after we meet with the doctor at M.D. Anderson.

I will be sending out email updates whenever we get new information to keep everyone up to date on Georgia's progress. As the news travels, please feel free to forward these emails to anyone you think would be interested, or have them email me at meghan.scobee@gmail.com to be added to the group. I have also set up a website, http://sweetgeorgiabrown1.blogspot.com , which will have copies of every email update that I send out.

As always, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers during this time. It means so much to us to know that we are surrounded by so many wonderful people who care! Thank you for everything you have already done and all that you continue to do.

Best,
Meghan