Michelle's Viewing and Funeral Details

Viewing will be held Wednesday May 20 at Wing Mortuary in Lehi, UT. 118 East Main Lehi, UT 84043 from 6:00-8:00pm

Viewing and Funeral services will be held Thursday May 21 at the Saratoga Springs Stake Center. 587 S. Saratoga Rd. Saratoga Springs UT 84045. The viewing will be from 9:30-10:30 and the service will begin at 11:00. The gravesite service will take place at Lehi cemetary. A small family luncheon will be served afterwards at our chapel near our house.

Thank you to all for your kind words and thoughts throughout the day. They have been much appreciated by us all.

Gone but never to be forgotten, Michelle bancroft 1/22/1981-05/18/2009...by Justin

Michelle passed away very peacefully this morning at 4:00am. She fought harder than anyone could have anticipated and stared this disease right in the face without once backing down. There were times that we thought she had this thing beat but our Father in Heaven had plans for her on the other side. She has touched the lives of more than can be counted throughout this ordeal and I'm sure her influence will be felt by many for years to come. I will hopefully have arrangements secured for the viewing and funeral later today and will update this as soon as I can.

Scary night and sign of things to come...by Justin

I know it's been a little while and several people have asked why I haven't posted anything. There really hasn't been anything to add, until last night. At roughly 10:15 we were just starting to settle down for the night. Michelle was having a difficult time breathing all day yesterday. Although her oxygen saturation was high, between 94-100 all day, she just can't get on top of being short of breath. She was brushing her teeth and than tried to catch her breath on the edge of the baththub. I noticed that she was starting to drift in and out so I got her into bed. Once she was in bed, I checked her oxygen saturation and it was 100, perfect. I got myself situated and into bed when Michelle reminded me that we hadn't flushed her lines yet. I got her saline and heperin taken care of and when I was clearing her second line she started to get a little shaky and seemed to be falling forward towards me. I laid her down and threw everything away and when I came back to bed, she was not responsive. I checked her saturation again and it was at 81 (anything below 90 is not good). She continued to be non-responsive for a couple more minutes, I turned her air up, checked to make sure her oxygen hose was clear, everything I could think of but her saturation continued to drop. By the time I called the nurse, it was as low as 47. knowing that Michelle has a DNR in place, I was torn between trying to do all I could to revive her or simply hold her hand and let her go peacefully.
I know what is eventually going to happen and I know there is nothing anyone can do to change it but this just came up all too fast. I called a neighbor friend who happened to be on duty last night with Saratoga PD, he came out and helped me assess her. He took her hand and asked if she wanted medical attention, she squeezed his hand but says now that she didn't knowingly do that. Medical attention arrived but I made sure that they understood that she would not be taken from the house and that she didn't want any heroic measures. After my friend Jared arrived, she started to come around on her own. Her saturation got better and better and she regained consciousness.
Last night was an experience that I know all too well will repeat itself and next time I will do what I know is right. There is more to what happened last night with seemingly all of Utah county police and medical in the front yard and in the house but the details are not important. I did hold Michelle's hand last night and told her how much I love her and to go if she felt like it was the right time. I don't know if this was supposed to be some sort of drill but at least I will be better prepared for whatever comes at me next time. She slept pretty well last night, her oxygen saturation has been in the mid 90's with one small dip this morning to 87 for a few seconds.
This obviously can't be a good sign and I know in my heart that she doesn't have much time left. I have to make a decision to close the door to visitors until she is gone or shows some improvement. It takes too much out of her to entertain people even though I know she likes the attention. I'm going to do my best to keep her in bed as much as possible. She is out of energy simply getting up to go to the couch.
If you haven't had the chance to visit and still want to, please call or text me and I'll try to arrange for it but I can't make any promises. Understand though as well that last time we were at a "critical" point, I got 367 text messages in one day. It gets overwhelming. There will be a time to properly pay your respect, but be mindful and respectful knowing that although your well wishes are personal, it gets very overwhelming coming from everyone that we know. At this point it's vital that we get as much uninterrupted time together with the kids. If I do not respond to your message it isn't personal, I just don't have time to give everyone an individual update on what's going on. I'll be sure to update again when we have any new events transpire.

Not much to say but...by Justin

Nothing has really changed since the last post but I understand that when there is nothing new written, people either interpret it one of two ways; catastrophic or relieving.
Michelle's condition hasn't changed. She is now on hospice so there will be no more visits to doctors or hospitals. We have had so many visitors and as much as we enjoy everyone coming over to wish us well, sometimes too much of a good thing can be exhausting for both of us. We have changed our visitor "policy" a couple of times by adjusting hours where our door is open, etc but we decided late last night that we are going to take the rest of the week, tonight-Friday night off for visitors and just catch up on some family time. PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS PERSONALLY anyone who has come over thus far!! Noone "helped" us make this decision, we just want a couple days to catch our breath and enjoy more time together one on one + kids. We also have some people travelling in from out of state and we want to be able to give them some time as they have spent a great deal to come see us on such short notice.
Feel free to give us a call this weekend if you would like to come by for a visit, again, keep 'em short and sweet!

So many visitors and food! by Justin

Nothing again has really changed since the last post but just to dispel rumors before they get started, we are in the process of starting Michelle on hospice. Hospice by no means is any sign of imminent doom but just more of a help for Michelle's comfort and our family's well being. We will get all the help that we need through this service and don't have to worry about any more doctor visits, panic due to lab results, etc. We can now just focus on getting our family ready for what is happening around us and dealing with it appropriately.
Michelle is in great spirits. She has her moments but she is still defying the odds and seemingly dealing with this better than everyone around her. I don't know where she gets it from but she finds the energy to smile, laugh and even give me crap from time to time. I have been testing her competence in asking nearly everyday if I can either buy a motorcycle or a new truck and everyday without fail she shuts me down. Good to see that somethings never change.
As a final note for today, the ward and family have pretty much kept our bellies full on dinners. Please as you come to visit, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not bring dinner unless you have talked to us about it. We are out of fridge space and I don't want anything to be wasted. Also, my kids are constantly of the walls with candy and other sugary treats, please do not bring anymore junk food unless it is for Michelle, I sure don't need anymore either.

No news is good news: By Justin

Many people have gotten concerned with what's going on since there hasn't been any updates over the last few days. As titled, no news is good news. Since we got her oxygen figured out she has been doing much better. She is still sprouting new spots but is feeling much better each day. We really didn't think if you would have asked us last Monday that she would be here still but she is doing really well the last few days.
Dr. Bentz, or Brandon as he has insisted we call him, came out yesterday for a nice visit. I don't know about you but I have never met a Dr. and a team of care providers that cares so deeply about their patients even after they are no longer in charge of their care. I don't think we would have ever guessed that the team of Dr.'s and nurses would end up being such fantastic friends. Michelle has had a lot of fluid collecting in the right side of her abdomen and it may be related to her liver. Brandon talked to the powers that be and we may take her in for an outpatient (hopefully) procedure to drain the fluid. This should help her feel much better once this is done. She can't go without oxygen still and probably won't ever be able to go off it. She is very reliant on it and it is cranked way up but whatever makes her feel better. Her recent spike in feeling better is a very welcome sight yet for me at the same time is somewhat disheartening as it somewhat gives a sense of false hope but we are all enjoying her recent recovery. We'll take any victory we can get and are still holding out for a miracle.
On another positive note, I came home today to see a huge team of people decorating my yard with beautiful flowers. Some of our old neighbors came out and had a load of mulch delivered and before long a whole team of people were over planting flowers. My yard has never looked better. I've lived here 4 years and in a couple short hours my yard was completely made over. I cannot thank those responsible enough for all that has been done to help my family through this difficult time. I have heard from so many people that I haven't talked to in forever. Many old friends, family, Marine brothers, etc. It has been such a nice reunion of sorts. It's amazing how far and wide something like this can spread and bring out the best in people.

How did all this happen? Posted by Justin

Many people that have just started following this blog have asked how all of this happened to Michelle. I thought it appropriate to summarize more or less what brought all this on.

We are pretty sure that it started shortly before we were married. Days before Michelle and I started dating she had a mole on her lower jaw that was removed. The Dr. thought it looked suspiscious and had it sent out for further testing. After a few days and a couple of different evaluations it was determined that the mole looked cancerous but in fact was not. They called it psuedomelanoma. It looked bad but was benign. Five years passed and we didn't give it a second thought until a bump started to form behind and below her left ear. We had a Dr. in Orem look at it and he determined that regardless of what it was that it needed to come out. She went through a very short surgery to remove it it was determined that this tumor was benig so again we felt like we dodged a bullet.
Roughly 11 months later the lump came back along the incision line and we elected to go to a Dr. Hunter at Cottonwood Hospital. He couldn't exactly determine what the problem was but he didn't want to compromise her main facial nerve and given that all signs pointed to the tumor being benign he decided that he would debulk the tumor as much as possible and radiate the remaining tumor so that she wouldn't have facial paralysis. After a couple weeks of pathology andd other tests, Dr. Hunter let us know that the tumor had malignant tendencies and in some ways mimicked melanoma. He than took her back to surgery and had no choice but to remove the tumor, along with the facial nerve. Another Dr. assisted by grafting her seral nerve from her left leg and grafted it in. We thought that margins were clear and it was thought at the time that it was a peripheral nerve sheath tumor. Dr. Hunter evaluated her for several months for follow up. After awhile, she noticed a firmness in her left cheek and aklong the incision line again. Dr. Hunter did a minimally invasive procedure to get samples of tissue to further evaluate. He called about two weeks later and said that the tumor had returned and was appearing to be spreading into her cheek and the surrounding area. He recommended at this point that she be treated by Dr. Bentz at Huntsman Cancer Institute.
We started at Huntsman about a year and a half ago. Dr. Bentz initially consulted her and advised of what he would like to do but always gave us the ultimate decision making power. He has been a tremendous resource for us as a physician and friend. We decided to try a procedure that would remove a big portin of tissue behid and below her ear and bring the skin from her neck up and stitching in place over what was removed. This was roughly a 6 hour procedue and at this point her fourth surgery on this same area. She recovered very well other than a 2-3 bout with shingles that was very painful and caused tremendous swelling on the left side of her face.
Not long after this surgery she formed a loarge blister like lesion behind her ear where most of the problems had taken place before. She went to our family physician and he tried to drain it but nothing really drained. He recommended that we go back to Huntsman. Dr. Bentz took a sample and had pathology take a look, it again was cancer. The decision was made that if we had any chance to beat this thing that a radical resection of all tissue involved would need to go. This included her left ear and her left cheek. Over the course of a 19 hour surgery, the Dr.'s removed the tissue and did a "flap" transfer" from her left thigh to patch in the resected area. This surgery was hell on Michelle and caused her indescribable pain. She again pushed through and overcame this problem and eventually responded well to radiation treatment. We thought that maybe we had this thing beat.
Following all of these procedures, we continued to consult with Dr. Bentz and his team. Scans were done to see if any metastasis had taken place and several spots showed in Michelle's lung and one in her back. We were than handed over to Dr. Akerly, the medical oncologist to determine what could be done to treat the disease. We settled on a more or less experimental treatment called interleukin II. The drug is used to treat people with kidney diseases and cancer. This treatment reqired one week in the hospital and side effects simialr to a bad flu with nausea, retaining water, pain and significant discomfort. She gained roughly 20 pounds during that weak and ended up with some fluid in her lung. After the week in the hospital, she would go 9 weeks with no treatment but would get a scan to determine if it appeared to be working. To our surprise and the Dr.'s, all of the tumors in her lung were smaller and she appeared to be responding to the treatment very well. We decided to go through round 2 of the treatment and through all the side effects, she again did very well.
It was than decided that the best form of treatment for her back would be through radiation. But the problem arose that over a very short period of time the tumor went from the size of a golf ball to roughly the tize of my fist. It was too big for radiation and we were referred to Dr. Yonamura at the University Neurological unit. He performed a surgery that removed two of her vertebrae as the tumor was encroaching on her spinal cord. He did not get all of the tumor and Michelle again had to go through hell on her road to recovering from this surgery. The plan was after the surgery that she would start radiation to treat the remainder of the tumor. She spent 16 days in the hospital and came home, doing pretty well physically. At this point is where my last post begins. Since than everything has gone down hill.
On a more positive note, Michelle recieved so many visitors yesterday and it really seemed to help her out physically. She was able to come out on the porch and visit with family and friends. Although the visits seemed to help, she was exhausted by the end of the day. We are more than willing to accept visitors and I know she loves the company but we ask that if you are going to visit that you please keep your visit brief giving everyone a chance to take a few moments alone with her. She did very well yesterday and I would say that it was probably her best day in the last 4-5 days. We hope to see continual improvement. She has taken her last chemo dose for the next three weeks and is still being treated for an infection that we don't believe exists. Her spirits are strong although her body is extrememly weak. her strength and determination amaze me every day. I do not know anyone that has gone through so much and affected the lives of so many people as she has. I joke with her that if I died that my funeral could fit in a phone booth but there is not a building anywhere that could accomodate all those that love her and that she has affected in her 28 years here on earth. We know that she is in good hands and that the Lord is mindful of her and our family at this difficult time. It hasn't been easy but we know there is a reason for everything that happens and we are prepared for whatever life throws at us.