| Author |
Message |
Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, October 14, 2013 - 8:32 pm 
I really like Jen's mom.
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Bbwatcher
Member
09-12-2008
| Monday, October 14, 2013 - 9:10 pm
Thanks, Sea. As hard as I tried, I couldn't get it to work.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, October 14, 2013 - 11:01 pm
No one can, without using tinyurl.com, which is a great service site.
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Friday, December 06, 2013 - 6:33 am
Jen Arnold, Star of TLC’s The Little Couple, Reveals She Has Cancer
By ALICIA DENNIS
12/06/2013 at 08:00 AM EST
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16 Comments
Jen Arnold, Star of TLC’s The Little Couple, Reveals She Has Cancer
Dr. Jennifer Arnold and Bill Klein
HEATHER SWANSON
PEOPLE MAGAZINE
Subscribe for instant access to PEOPLE
Jen Arnold, star of the hit TLC series The Little Couple, is battling a rare form of cancer.
The Houston-based neonatologist, 39, and her husband Bill Klein, 38, are parents to son Will, 3, whom they adopted from China, and daughter Zoey, 2, whom they recently brought home from India.
But what should have been a time of joy and celebration for the reality stars has been bittersweet, as Arnold reveals in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE.
"I have recently been diagnosed with a rare type of cancer and am currently undergoing treatment, including surgery and chemotherapy.” Arnold says.
"I am very fortunate as the prognosis is good. While there is never a good time to get news like this, getting it just as we are building our new family is tough in many ways ... But being surrounded by the love of my husband and our two beautiful children is actually in many ways giving me the strength to fight it even stronger."
No further details about the type of cancer Arnold is facing are being released at this time.
Arnold and Klein have been reality stars since a TV special about their wedding, The Little Couple: Just Married, became a sensation for the network.
Since then, millions of viewers have watched Arnold and Klein, an entrepreneur who runs Rocky and Maggie's Pet Shop in Houston, build their dream home, struggle with fertility and surrogacy issues, and ultimately, expand their family with the adoption of Will and Zoey.
"For a lot of people, loss tears them apart," Arnold told PEOPLE earlier this year. "In general, we are pretty tough people. I feel very lucky and fortunate to have the wonderful life I have. We are good at putting things in perspective because of our life experiences. I am not a person to give up when something is important. We feel so lucky to be parents."
Certainly, Arnold, who has had approximately 30 procedures and surgeries related to her type of dwarfism, isn't one to shy away from a fight.
"Jen has achieved so many great things," Klein told PEOPLE earlier this year. "We are so in love with each other and supportive of each other that we are going to be ok. Few people are so lucky to have what we do, from the moment you meet that one person and everything that you do together, everything that you add to that relationship is exciting as well. We are up for challenges."
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Friday, December 06, 2013 - 6:35 am
The above article is from People Magazine online.
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Friday, December 06, 2013 - 10:24 am
Some more info from People online:
Vowing to fight her rare form of cancer, Jen Arnold, star of TLC's The Little Couple, has decided to let cameras document her ordeal.
"TLC has chronicled Bill and Jen's lives since 2009 and at their request, we will be following them through this challenge," a TLC spokesperson tells PEOPLE. "Jen is a doctor and teacher and she saw this as an opportunity to educate and possibly help, through sharing her story."
Arnold, 39, is a neonatologist at Texas Children's Hospital where she serves as medical director of the Pediatric Simulation Center and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine.
She is "currently undergoing treatment, including surgery and chemotherapy," she told PEOPLE Thursday.
Arnold and her husband Bill Klein, 38, allowed fans into their journey to become parents to son Will, 3, and daughter Zoey, 2, whom they recently adopted.
"We allowed our lives to be filmed because we wanted people to understand more about our condition and others who are like us," Klein told PEOPLE earlier this year.
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Friday, December 06, 2013 - 10:24 am
OH no! I pray she aces this!
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Friday, December 06, 2013 - 10:32 am
I do not know what type of cancer this is, but I was wondering about the infertility treatments injections she took. Here seems to be one type of cancer connected with the protocol…I pray it is not this:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ovarian-cancer-tied-to-fertility-treatments-cause-for-alarm/
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Friday, December 06, 2013 - 6:03 pm
Here is a People link:
http://tinyurl.com/l2tco9j
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Friday, December 06, 2013 - 6:05 pm
I'm just sick hearing this..
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Friday, December 06, 2013 - 6:17 pm
Jennifer Arnold, MD @JenArnoldMD 2h
Thank you to all for your well wishes and support! #GetWellJen
Jennifer Arnold, MD @JenArnoldMD 11h
It's out there! But I am in the process of beating this!
http://tinyurl.com/l2tco9j
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Friday, December 06, 2013 - 7:06 pm
From the people link..
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Countrydaze
Member
11-07-2003
| Friday, December 06, 2013 - 7:20 pm
They are both such wonderful people, I will keep them in my prayers, they deserve nothing but the best. I hope that she does beat this.
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Wednesday, December 11, 2013 - 6:30 am
FROM PEOPLE ONLINE HERE IS WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO JEN
While Arnold and Klein, both 39, were in India to pick up their daughter Zoey, 2, along with son Will, 3, adopted earlier this year from China, Arnold began bleeding. She contacted her OB-GYN and made the difficult decision to return home to Houston while Klein stayed behind with their kids and nanny to finalize Zoey's paperwork.
"My initial thoughts were all about Zoey," Arnold tells PEOPLE. "But then the bleeding got worse and I was feeling light-headed. It was a hard decision, but I had to go home."
Back in Houston, Arnold, a neonatologist at Texas Children's Hospital, was diagnosed with stage 3 choriocarcinoma, a rare cancer that began with a non-viable pregnancy (the embryo had no heartbeat) she suffered in September.
"The one time I get pregnant," Arnold says ruefully, "I get cancer."
When a cancerous mass in her uterus didn't initially respond to chemotherapy, her doctors decided to perform a hysterectomy.
"We wanted to avoid surgery in her case because of her shortened airway and the difficulties she has had in the past with surgeries," says Dr. Concepcion R. Diaz-Arrastia, director of gynecology oncology at Baylor College of Medicine, who is treating Arnold. "But we felt we had no choice. The disease was not responding to chemotherapy. We had to do this in order to save her life."
Her doctor also did extensive research and contacted specialists around the country to calculate the appropriate dosage of chemotherapy for Arnold, who has a form of dwarfism.
"I called oncologists in Los Angeles, Baltimore, New York, Houston," says Dr. Arrastia, "and no one had experience with treating this type of cancer in a person with skeletal dysplasia. It was a very rare cancer, rare that it was found in a little person … a very rare situation."
Arnold's battle against cancer after welcoming Zoey home will be shared with their millions of fans on future episodes of The Little Couple (a marathon airs Saturday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. EST).
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, December 11, 2013 - 9:09 am
I was afraid of exactly those complications.. difficulties of surgery AND treatment. And they cannot really just look at children's treatments since anything really new is less likely to have been used on smaller children because they do most trials on adults. Parents with children with some rare cancers say the treatments are 20-30 years old and not working.
Every finger crossed and many prayers for her recovery.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, December 11, 2013 - 9:20 am
Putting that dx into www.cancer.org brings up ovarian (the cancer is named for the origin, not necessarily for where it is located) .. and the first mention of choriocarcinoma:
quote:Germ cell tumors:
Germ cells are the cells that usually form the ova or eggs. Most germ cell tumors are benign, but some are cancerous and may be life threatening. Less than 2% of ovarian cancers are germ cell tumors. Overall, they have a good outlook, with more than 9 out of 10 patients surviving at least 5 years after diagnosis.
There are several subtypes of germ cell tumors. The most common germ cell tumors are teratomas, dysgerminomas, endodermal sinus tumors, and choriocarcinomas. Germ cell tumors can also be a mix of more than a single subtype.
Endodermal sinus tumor (yolk sac tumor) and choriocarcinoma:
These very rare tumors typically affect girls and young women. They tend to grow and spread rapidly but are usually very sensitive to chemotherapy.
Choriocarcinoma that starts in the placenta (during pregnancy) is more common than the kind that starts in the ovary. Placental choriocarcinomas usually respond better to chemotherapy than ovarian choriocarcinomas do.
So if it was placental that is better, but that it didn't respond well to chemo, not so good.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, December 11, 2013 - 10:07 am
The actual link for that info and more on that subject:
http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/003130-pdf.pdf
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Roxip
Member
01-29-2004
| Wednesday, December 11, 2013 - 12:24 pm
One of my friends had what they call a "mole" pregnancy (the fetus never formed but there were instead a ball of cells) (which counted as her third miscarriage in a year) and shortly thereafter elected to have a hysterectomy because it is considered a precancerous condition (and her likelihood of carrying to term was miniscule). She later adopted.
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Wednesday, December 11, 2013 - 12:32 pm
Thank you for your research, Sea. I like to know all I can about these sort of things.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, December 11, 2013 - 2:57 pm
Me too, OG.
I went to www.maggieandrocky.com and used their contact us to send a very short note of support.
The next season is sure to be quite an emotional rollercoaster, with news of Zoey's adoption and Jen's treatment. How sad that her trip was cut short.. she really gets into the spirit and I hope she got to meet her daughter and wear her sari before she had to go home. And I'm sure it was the hardest thing ever for Bill to not be able to go with her, but I'm sure he had to complete the adoption.. Zoey was already theirs so not to be left behind and besides Jen's diagnosis might cause problems if they tried to adopt later anyway.
I am sure they are all extremely happy now that Jen's parents moved to be near them and are well settled in. That has to make a huge difference for Jen as she faces this new challenge.
And also that Bill is a veteran dad by now, too..
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Wednesday, December 11, 2013 - 5:14 pm
I don't envy them the next few months. It's going to be exceedingly difficult.
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Longbeachbbfan
Member
08-17-2005
| Wednesday, December 11, 2013 - 6:26 pm
Jen opens up about her fight with cancer via People.com >>>
http://ow.ly/rFdwb
While Arnold and Klein, both 39, were in India to pick up their daughter Zoey, 2, along with son Will, 3, adopted earlier this year from China, Arnold began bleeding. She contacted her OB-GYN and made the difficult decision to return home to Houston while Klein stayed behind with their kids and nanny to finalize Zoey's paperwork.
"My initial thoughts were all about Zoey," Arnold tells PEOPLE. "But then the bleeding got worse and I was feeling light-headed. It was a hard decision, but I had to go home."
Back in Houston, Arnold, a neonatologist at Texas Children's Hospital, was diagnosed with stage 3 choriocarcinoma, a rare cancer that began with a non-viable pregnancy (the embryo had no heartbeat) she suffered in September.
"The one time I get pregnant," Arnold says ruefully, "I get cancer."
When a cancerous mass in her uterus didn't initially respond to chemotherapy, her doctors decided to perform a hysterectomy.
"We wanted to avoid surgery in her case because of her shortened airway and the difficulties she has had in the past with surgeries," says Dr. Concepcion R. Diaz-Arrastia, director of gynecology oncology at Baylor College of Medicine, who is treating Arnold. "But we felt we had no choice. The disease was not responding to chemotherapy. We had to do this in order to save her life."
Her doctor also did extensive research and contacted specialists around the country to calculate the appropriate dosage of chemotherapy for Arnold, who has a form of dwarfism.
"I called oncologists in Los Angeles, Baltimore, New York, Houston," says Dr. Arrastia, "and no one had experience with treating this type of cancer in a person with skeletal dysplasia. It was a very rare cancer, rare that it was found in a little person … a very rare situation."
Arnold's battle against cancer after welcoming Zoey home will be shared with their millions of fans on future episodes of The Little Couple (a marathon airs Saturday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. EST).
Send your well-wishes to the family using #GetWellJen
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, December 11, 2013 - 7:37 pm
That is on Twitter.. the #GetWellJen
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, December 18, 2013 - 7:57 pm
In the actual paper issue of People, the doctor called her cancer "aggressive" and said it quadrupled in size with chemo, which was why they had to chance the surgery and there were some complicatons. And there were four spots on her lungs so that is what they are now treating.
Jen said it was a choice .. in India she was bleeding but wanted to be there for the process of adopting Zoey, but then was so light headed.. the choice was should she get transfusions there and stay or go home.. she says it was fortunate she went home and when they evaluated.. they started treatment quickly.
They are doing the stuff at Texas Children's where Jen works even though her oncologist is at Baylor.
She has a wig on in the People pictures but they showed a selfie she took during chemo with much of her own hair gone. They said typical of her sense of humor at one point she had sort of a Mohawk and flipped her tuft of hair to the side and pretended to be Donald Trump and 'fired' Bill.
They said that Zoey was not like Will.. in that will bonded SO quickly with them. Zoey had also never seen other little people and she would cling to normal statured people. Plus when Bill brought her home she had an ear infection and Jen had to be isolated from her since she was into chemo.. so that slowed down the bonding.
But Jen says a silver lining of being in treatment is that she is home and that even if she is weak and on the couch, the kids are there and so is she.
I sure am pulling for her in this..
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Thursday, December 19, 2013 - 9:07 am
I'm praying that she survives what sounds like long odds against her.
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