July 2017 - Joyce Bica could once again use your help.  - As you all know by now, I was diagnosed with glioblastoma (a rare and extremely aggressive form of brain cancer) in Portugal on 7/19/2016. Over the past year, I have been enjoying my life and caring for myself by eating all organic food, taking lots of supplements/vitamins, doing Jazzercise and jump rope, and then over the past 7 months, I have been hooked up to the Optune device by Novocure. Recently, I made a return trip to Portugal, participated in WJR 2017 in Orlando, did a side trip to Disney World to ride the Rockin' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, and then I flew to Boston to visit friends and relatives up and down the east coast. On 7/19/17, I celebrated my 1 year anniversary by having an amazing and meaningful tattoo carved into my left leg as a public display of encouragement and hope, and to express my deep love and respect for the country and people of Portugal. I am so grateful I was able to return right before World Jump Rope to say thank you and visit with many of them. The way they all loved and cared for me is part of my healing journey.  Unfortunately, after being "good" for all these many months, my follow up tests and doctor visit has revealed I have two new tumors growing in different parts of my brain; both inoperable and too deep for Optune to reach. Since this type of cancer is very "clever" and finds ways to move around, my doctor is also ordering a scan of my spine to make sure nothing is showing up in that area of my body too.  

The immediate plan of action is to do some radiation and chemo (Temodar) to try and slow down the growth of this new tumor activity to give me time to try and figure out what I want to do next in the way of a clinical trial or alternative treatments. (I am not a fan of chemo and radiation to lengthen my life; I'm more about "quality of life!" )

There are other options out there, but I will likely have to travel to get to them. I spent most of Friday on the phone exploring my options and how my insurance works out of state. (It mostly does not because I am on the WA Healthcare Exchange) I soon realized that even if I could find other treatments or clinical trials I would have to pay everything "out of pocket." Since my pockets are empty with holes in them, I am humbly reaching out to ask for any financial assistance that my friends and family can offer to help me in my quest for a cure.  (If I end up being accepted for the CAR- t cell therapy at the City of Hope in CA, then I could move there and get on Medacal, which is a form of Medacaid. However, I need to bide my time until the end of August so I can run all my summer Jumpin' J's camps as planned. If I can get on the Nativis Voyager device, then I can stay put for a while and see how that may work for me. However, in the long run, I am guessing I will have to travel to try some of the new immunotheraphy work or vaccines that are in the works. (I could be injected with the listeria or polio virus, just to name two that I am aware of at this time.) I also have my tumor cells growing in the lab at Swedish Seattle so I could be injected with some drugs that seem to come against my cells in a petri dish, even though they don't know how a human subject might react to this chemical cocktail. (If you are a person who has any insight into this, please feel free to email me or send me a private Facebook message.  

Thank you for praying for me and my situation and considering any other ways you may be able to help.

Take care and God bless!

Feliz,

Joyce

Original Story from 2016: 

Go to Portugal they said......
Go to an International jump rope competition they said....
But no one said anything about a malignant brain tumor.....

Just want everyone to know that I am alive and well, safe and comfortable in the Hospital Privado do Braga (Private Hospital of Braga). I have a brain tumor that is about 30 millimeters - we realized something was wrong with my left side during warm-ups the day before the World Jump Rope tournament. My surgery to remove the tumor is scheduled for Monday, July 25 here in beautiful Braga.

My teammate Janet Mador (who happens to be a nurse) accompanied me to the hospital, along with a kind caring young man Jose' (said Joe-Zay) who was there as my advocate to translate and meet every need I had. He is now officially my Portuguese son. This hospital is extremely clean and professional. My room is large and the "service" is spectacular. The Doctors are so compassionate, kind and knowledgeable. I have every confidence in them and the quality of care I will receive here.

The Doctors took immediate and detailed action to identify my condition in a matter of hours. They then communicated the bad news in a straightforward, professional manner, so I would clearly understand what I was facing and the immediate steps I needed to take based on the seriousness of my situation.  I knew right away, this is where I wanted to have my surgery so there would be no delay, and my family unanimously agreed with me.

For those of you who think I'm out of my mind for having brain surgery in Portugal...There's no place I'd rather be!!! These warm, caring Portuguese people are my new peeps!

My daughter Jenna is coming here on Sunday afternoon, July 24, to be here for my surgery and recovery. However, my jump rope team has been with me, along with the entire International jump rope community, right from the very beginning. Many of them will still be here during and after my surgery.

I am very much at peace, as God has obviously assembled an army of support in Portugal to meet my needs at this time.

This is not the adventure I expected to have when I came to Portugal. But its still an amazing one nonetheless!

You can keep track of my progress on my CaringBridge page.... https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joycebica