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Here is an e-mail sent to me by David H. Dingman, the first (I).

To all,

There are no good English words to express my joy and appreciation to Godand the wonderful team of physicians who successfully removed the tumor from David’s head without any complications, damage or disfigurement. Within 2 hours of surgery he was sitting up eating a chicken sandwich, brownie, and milk, and feeling fine. He was discharged from Cedars-Sinai Hospital (L.A., CA) by 0930 the next day and new MRIs, by the Beverly Hills Imaging (Beverly Hills, CA), show no signs of any more tumor. Pathology reports will be final by Wednesday of this week and we expect them to prove the tumor samples, as have all to date, to be dead tissue.

The critical issue is that this medical technique will become the new standard procedure for thousands of other people with similar tumors, whose only options to date have been: die, or have catastrophic surgery with an extremely high mortality rate, long-trerm recovery for those who survive, and extreme financial impacts that would devastate almost anyone.

Dr. Shahinian and his team are medical pioneers and have bravely fought to bring some sanity to intercranial surgery medicine. We are blessed and overjoyed to consider them close friends.

I will forever be grateful to my daughter, Tiffini, whose love of God, love of her son, persistence, research, and ingenuity, were the catalysts to bring together the critical resources to make this outcome possible.

Unless there are significant changes in David’s situation, or I just need to “vent my joy” further, this will be the last mass communication about David. You may continue to review his status on his website at www.brytr.com.

Thank you all for the love, prayers and generosity you have shared with, for, and on behalf of, David. God has answered them all. We do not know what the future holds, but He is still in charge of our lives.

Dave

Below is the latest update about David from www.brytr.com, for you enjoyment:

7 February 2005:

We are back from New York. We didn’t get to take David on a horse & buggy ride Saturday night because the flight from LA was delayed too long. However, he did get to go down to Times Square Sunday morning after the Today Show Weekend Edition and check out the huge Toys R Us with a Ferris Wheel inside it.

Even though there were two segments on the Today Show, our local D.C. NBC affiliate only showed the first part. That is unfortunate. The second part was less scripted. It showed the procedure used on David and allowed us to present Campbell with a “Frank Must Die” t-shirt and bumper sticker.

After the show, David went outside and gave away a couple of bumper stickers to the crowd at Rockefeller Center who were gathered for the Today Show. On our way out to a waiting car, we were stopped so David could give a man his autograph.

But now the little TV star is back to a regular schedule. Today is the start of a new week of chemo. No rest for the weary.

We have a picture of Frank. And we have some pictures of the area after surgery. We are thinking about putting them up on the web. But we haven’t decided yet.

Thanks to everyone at NBC, the Skull Base Institute, Cedar Sinai Hospital, The Beverly Hilton, and the Westin Essex House for all of their hospitality and kindnesses during the last week. Special thanks to Dr. Shahinian for a remarkable, non invasive, successful surgery that was practically an out-patient experience. And most of all, mad props to God. Jesus Rocks!