Eric Zielinski

This story begins on December 23, 1995. It is about our son Eric Zielinski, who was only about 11 months old at the time.

A week before, my wife and I noticed Eric was very cranky and was drooling. We thought he was cutting teeth. We also noticed that his eyes began to roll. We thought he was just tired from being up at night teething.

On December 23, my wife paged me while I was picking up last-minute Christmas gifts. She had called the doctor for Eric. The doctor said to bring Eric right in. After examining him, the doctor told us there might be a mass in Eric's brain and to take him to the hospital for a CT scan.

On Christmas Eve, we were told that Eric had a mass in the brain stem and fluid on the brain. The pressure on his brain was causing the crankiness, drooling, and eye rolling. The next morning, Christmas Day, Eric had a VP shunt inserted to relieve the pressure.

The next day, a biopsy was performed to determine the type of tumor. The biopsy left Eric partially paralyzed. The doctors said the tumor was a PNET, a primitive neuroectodermal tumor, which is extremely rare in the brain stem. The tumor also was entwined in the brain stem. There are only eight known cases similar to Eric’s tumor.

The doctors' recommendation was to start five rounds of chemotherapy for this huge tumor (approximately 5.5 by 6 centimeters) because Eric was too young for radiation therapy. On January 4, 1996, Eric began chemotherapy. During chemotherapy, Eric became quite sick and his hair fell out. We had to feed him through a tube because he could no longer get nutrition through his mouth, which was a a side effect of the biopsy surgery.

I researched different options during the course of Eric's chemotherapy, because the doctors had told us he would live for only 6 months to 1 year. I traveled looking for different doctors but was told the same thing over and over again: "Chemo is the only thing to do."

During the course of Eric’s fourth chemo cycle, we saw a television program on WNBC news in New York called "The Truth About Cancer." It was hosted by Gabe Pressman, a journalist for NBC. He was talking about a doctor in Houston, Texas, named Stanislaw Burzynski, and his nontoxic cancer treatment called antineoplastons. Dr. Burzynski was getting positive results in patients with brain tumors.

After the program, I told my wife I was going to call this doctor and find out about antineoplaston treatment. When I called and told them about my son, the people at Burzynski’s Clinic said Eric was ineligible because he was too young. Another week went by, and I called again; I received the same answer. Once more, a week later, I called and was told the same thing. I then called Gabe Pressman and told him about my son to see if he could help. He called me the next day and said, "Pack your bags and go to Houston."

My wife and I brought the CT scans and MRIs to the Clinic before we took Eric. After meeting with us, Dr. Burzynski said he would take our son as a patient. He explained that Eric’s tumor type is a very hard tumor to treat, and that the decision was up to us. He made no promises whatsoever that he could cure our son.

We stopped Eric's chemo after four cycles. He had to be off treatment for a month before he could begin Dr. Burzynski’s treatment. On April 9, 1996, Eric became Dr. Burzynski’s youngest patient, at 15 months of age. The next day, the FDA halted the Clinic’s acceptance of all new patients.

Since starting the treatment, Eric’s tumor has been steadily decreasing in size. The last MRI, done in July 1998, shows the tumor to be no bigger than 3 centimeters all the way around. The neuroradiologist that reads the films says he has never seen anything like this. Also, Eric’s oncologist in New York said it looks very promising, which was the first positive statement about Eric's prognosis that we had heard from him. He also said, "I didn’t think we would be talking after 2 years."

My heart goes out to Dr. Burzynski in taking my son as a patient and his dedication as a doctor in fighting for his treatment. I know that Dr. Burzynski is helping my son survive.

1998