This may sound like trying to use someone's misfortune to grab some attention to oneself, and it is to some extent.

No. It's not! Going through this kind of horrific crisis and reporting on it is not an attempt to grab attention at all. At this time, when all of us who have stood in awe of the Kennedys' strength and leadership are weeping and inconsolable, we need to hear of miracles such as your son's. And any time a child's life is in danger, the parents should reach out to everyone possible even across the Atlantic Pond. Me and mine would beseach you for periodic updates on your son's health.

In 1997, my father had a brain tumor removed that was located at the top of a temporal gyrus and thankfully benign. The neurosurgeon said his tumor was indicative of 30 years of taking the steroid Prednisone that he had to take for asthma. Less than 3 weeks later, he had triple bypass heart surgery which was found only because his mother hen of a doctor refused the other doctors' suggestions that his nausea was caused by the tegritol and cortisone used after his brain surgery. He has since survived prostate cancer and being rear-ended by a tractor trailer in 2003 that left him with a permanent but stable compression fracture at his T12 vertbrae. My father would be dead if it were not for Dr. Mother Hen. But I was ready to lose it at several points were it not for a strong group of friends who kept me going. You need that social support when you go through a terrible illness such as your son had, Sir.

Last year, a Pharmaceutical company called Dendreon got an FDA clearance to fast track the approval for a "biological" prostate cancer therapy called Provenge which was supposed to open the door for many other biological cancer therapies. Thirteen of seventeen FDA oncologists and high ranking FDA directors recommended Provenge for approval. Of the three who rejected it, one was a statistician who wanted more concrete results and the other two, Drs Scher and Hussein, were oncologists who had to sign a conflict of interest disclosure for the FDA, because they worked for and owned major shares of the Pharma that makes the chemo drug that could be made obsolete by this therapy. Scher and Hussein won and Provenge was given an "approvable letter" that said Dendreon had to conduct another 3 year study to get approved.
FDA delay is attacked

Three of our wonderful Democratic Congressmen have tried to fight this.
Provenge approval scandal one year later

The participants of the Provenge Study, all of whom had been given terminal prostate cancer diagnoses, lived an average of 18 months longer than those who received only Chemo and 34 months longer than those who had no treatment at all. There are several patients who are still alive 7+ years after the treatment.  The only side effects are mild flu like symptoms. It works by turning off the signal that the cancer cells give off that prevent the immune system from recognizing it and attacking it. The therapy is administered by taking a bit of the patient's blood, treating the white blood cells so that they will be immune to the cancer cell's signal and returning the blood to the patient so that the immunity cells can attack the cancer. They use the body's own immune system to fight the cancer rather than deadly radiation/chemo. The efficacy of these drugs on non-terminal patients has patients has not been studied yet because they have to get it past this gridlock first before advancing to that point but it has been speculated to be at least equal if not statistically more significant in being able to stop cancer in it tracks.

Some of the other biologicals in the pipeline that were hoping Provenge would open the door for their approval, work by preventing the cancer from growing by turning off its capacity to grow and spread. The drugs in the pipeline have shown efficacy in fighting pancreatic, liver, brain, stomach, and ovarian, breast and other hormone resistant cancers. And they do not have the side effects of radiation or chemo.
The Next wave of Cancer drugs

As I write, MSNBC just anounced the death of Hamilton Jordan, Carter's Chief of Staff, from a twenty year battle with non-Hodgekins lymphoma and prostate cancer.

On this side of the pond, we can only hope that this corrupted Administration and all of its little minions will be driven out of town on 1-20-09. As for you Frenchmen, you have a much better healthcare system than we do. Maybe your version of the FDA will see the moral and ethical responsibility of approving these drugs so you and your son can be done with this cancer should it strike (God forbid!)again.
Data released on Cancer Drug research May 16, 2008

For anyone interested in more detail on this battle see
Care to Live The story

but surely human insight can some through divine intervention?

are now fully recovered.

thoughts and prayers to all those suffering and their loved ones...

as mentioned above, brain tumors are really different for adults and kids, so there's no possible comparison.

 this is a real community, and we all share in each other's joy and pain, triumphs and tragedies.
  Wishing you and your family the best.