DawnMarie's Breast Cancer Fund

The last three years have been challenging. In January 2014 a cancerous tumor was discovered in my right breast, then spread to one of my lungs, and then to five lymph nodes. After seeing my father wither away due to his lung cancer and conventional chemo and radiation treatments I decided that I would try everything in my power to build up my immune system instead of attacking it, until now. I’ve changed my diet many times, most recently to raw foods. My lung tumor disappeared! But my Aggressive Ulcerated Fungating Tumor (which I will not post any photos of - very graphic) in my breast has stubbornly started to grow again. I have fought for two years now with the help of many specialists and my family and friends but I need your help. Whatever money I can raise here with be used for low dose chemo, insulin potentiation therapy at the Hufeland Klinik for Holistic Immunotherapy. I'm asking for any form of help you can offer, whether positive thoughts or a small donation. Even with insurance the costs of my alternative treatments, tests, and doctor visits so far has been $40,000, not including costs for my husband’s health issues and recent heart attack. The $55,000 will help cover two treatments at Hufeland, the flights, low dose chemo, and IV.

My journey began in January of 2014 when my husband, John, and I both went for regular check-ups with our family doctor, including my regular mammogram. It was during that doctor’s visit that things started to unravel. A lump was found in my right breast the biopsy came back positive for Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.

 My father, a healthy, vigorous carpenter by trade, had been up on his roof doing repairs one month, and a few months later was rail thin, confined to his bed with debilitating lung cancer. He didn’t have much time to live. We tried to help him change his diet and lifestyle (he was a smoker, and survived off canned food like most of his generation, those who knew war in Europe intimately), but it was all very foreign to him, and questions of ‘quality of life’ always arise when one knows the end is near.

I immediately saw a surgeon and oncologist. The illness is serious, the choices overwhelming, but one of the most important factors is choosing your own path and surrendering yourself to it. Why would I want to expose my body to the toxicity of the first option when there was no guarantee? Should I not pursue what I feel I need to?

Both my surgeon and oncologist recognized the need for me to make my own decision, and, although they recommended I take a conventional route, they agreed to keep me on as a patient and monitor my progression as I pursued a number of alternative treatments. I’m forever grateful for their support. I went to lectures at Yale University, read dozens of books, spoke with cancer survivors, and started forming the path forward that I felt I needed to.  

The cancer spread to one of my lungs. My doctor recommended I take cannabis oil to help with the pain and allow me to sleep at night. My husband had a heart attack. We both tried to take each day as it came and practice the difficult and elusive art of sincere gratitude. I went on medical leave. John was forced to take time off as he recovered from his cardiac arrest. I waned, losing over 40 lbs. My fatigue heightened. My anemia increased.  

After three years of treatment and extreme lifestyle changes I was successful in eliminating the lung tumor and 4 of the lymph gland areas. I learned an immense amount from the specialists I worked with, I am healthier than I’ve ever been. (Those specialists include nutritionists, homeopaths, osteopaths, naturopaths, oncologists, gynecologists, pharmacists, acupressurists, acupuncturists, counsellors, and surgeons.) Additionally, my primary breast tumor shrank, but it has recently begun to grow and now constitutes what is called an Ulcerated Fungating Tumor.

In December I’d spoken with an oncologist who recommended I go for low dose chemo, Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT), a form of Immunotherapy being used in a number of leading cancer treatment centers. This type of targeted therapy and low dose chemo treatment is not offered close to where I live, but I found the Hufeland center in Germany which has had success in shrinking Ulcerated Fungating Tumors in breasts through both low dose chemo and holistic health treatments, including full body/local hypothermia, detox, high does vitamin c and selenium and others. It is my hope and plan to go to Hufeland in Germany. I found out about this clinic through a friend who went there for her breast cancer. After reading the book "German Cancer Breakthrough A Guide to Top Clinics' and having a phone consultation with the doctor there, I decided this is where I need to go for treatment.

90% of the treatments and medical advice I have been given are NOT covered by our insurance. My husband has been selflessly working although he is over 65 and his own eyesight and hearing has paid a toll. His heart attack was an alarming realization that he needs care as well. The cost of treatments are one expense, the loss of income from inability to work are another. There is no way of putting a number on the emotional, psychological, and spiritual costs involved.

I'm asking my friends and family for their assistance, and I thank you sincerely for any form of help you can offer, whether positive thoughts, or a small donation.

Thank you and God bless,