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It's Never Too Late for a Miracle
Many of you reading this know Susan Bohonos in some way shape or form: a fellow parent at your child's elementary school; a small business owner making a go of it; an old colleague at the pub; avid boater and explorer of the Harrison area; a recipe exchanger; a BC Children's Hospital volunteer; a daughter, sister, wife of 18 years, mother to two sons...
And Now Let's Stop and add Cancer Survivor to this Amazing List of Life Accomplishments.
While cancer is not the only thing that defines Susan, it is what she has gone to work fighting, for approximately the last 975 days. That is 975 days living fairly well with Pancreatic Cancer. She still runs the house, plays with her kids, goes on trips, hosts parties, up until last winter skied with her husband and got to be her little sister's maid of honor last summer.
975 Days of NEVER Complaining About Any of the Following:
- Living with only 20 % of a Pancreas that now doesn't work at all.
- Living with diabetes.
- Living with a reconstructed portal vein.
- Living with finding a way to explain all this to your six and eight year old kids.
- Living with not being able to digest food properly.
- Living with a daily regimen of 25 different ways she cares for her own self through naturopathic supplements, insulin, pain killers and blood boosters.
- Living with comforting your family and friends when really you are the one who needs comforting.
- Living with mounting medical bills and fighting insurance companies to ensure they stay manageable for a family with now only one income.
- Living with your hair falling out.
- Living with taking a gamut of genetic testing only to find out there is no answer as to why this is happening.
- Living with watching the government taking months to approve a new treatment that could buy you more time.
- Living with the highs of seeing your cancer markers drop.
- Living with the lows of seeing your cancer markers rise when those cells have decided to become immune to chemotherapy.
You See Susan Doesn't Take Many People Inside Her Daily Battle because She is Grateful to be Living.
After all, the statistics will tell you most people only live 97 days, not 975, after being diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. Yes, these statistics are hard to swallow, but sometime you need to…
Stare the Truth Straight in the Eye and say "Come on; Give Me Your Best Shot."
And that is exactly what our family is doing after recently learning the cancer inside of Susan has metastasized to her liver.
We know this news will come as a shock to many of you close to Susan. What her immediate family needs you to do is the following:
1. Take a deep breath.
2. Respect their space. Right now, things are changing every day. Susan does not have the energy to keep everyone up to date and needs to focus on her well-being, her husband and her kids. Her sister Jani will send out updates as they come available. If you have questions, you can email her at [email redacted] and she will do her best to respond and/or update Susan's Staying Cancer Free facebook page.
3. Treat her normally. While her energy is waning, she still wants just to be herself. She will have tea and talk about anything besides cancer. She will meet you at the playground so the kids can run around.
4. Offer to go grocery shopping.
5. Consider making a financial contribution through this webpage.
Because We Are Not Giving Up!
Donating to Susan will help with the following:
1. Starting Flourouracil (5-FU) and Folinic acid (or Leucovorin): Fluorouracil interferes with cells making DNA and RNA, which stops the growth of cancer cells.
Leucovorin can be used to increase the efficacy of Fluorouracil.
There is another drug, Oxaliplatin, which is a platinum-compound chemotherapy drug that acts as an alkylating agent. It stops the growth of cancer cells, which causes the cells to die - this drug is current NOT covered by the family's 3rd party insurance.
2. Pursuing a Second Opinion in Seattle: Just over the border from Susan’s home is a leading Pancreatic Cancer treatment centre. They have found administering an enzyme/chemotherapy combination results in rapid reduction of the interstitial fluid pressure, which in turn opens up the blood vessels and permits chemotherapy to reach the tumor in the Pancreas. Their main doctor says the results of these clinical trials “represents the largest survival increase we’ve seen in any of the studies done in a preclinical model, and it rivals the very best results reported in humans.” Susan plans on travelling to Seattle this week to seek their opinion on her case and see if they think their treatment can help her. Read more on the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
3. Access to naturopathic treatments to complement scientific care: If you know Susan, you know she’s a bit of a hippie. She has been seeing a Naturopath who has helped her with digestion immensely. These treatments are expensive and are not covered by any insurance.
4. Allowing Susan to purchase organic produce: In order to reach her recommended food nutrient daily dosage, Susan's juicing can get quite costly.
We, her family, sincerely hope you choose to help with financial gift if you can. It will ease the financial stress and will make Susan believe that…
It’s Never Too Late for a Miracle.
Some Words of Wisdom:
"Our family is suffering with cancer but we are NOT going to let cancer rob us from the happy days and times we have left together."
- Marilyn Sorensen, Susan's mother
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
- The Thomson and Sorensen families
To learn more about Susan's 975 days living with Pancreatic Cancer visit her Staying Cancer Free facebook page.
To learn more about her cancer treatments so far and clinical trials she has benefitted from visit Pancreas Centre BC.
Many of you reading this know Susan Bohonos in some way shape or form: a fellow parent at your child's elementary school; a small business owner making a go of it; an old colleague at the pub; avid boater and explorer of the Harrison area; a recipe exchanger; a BC Children's Hospital volunteer; a daughter, sister, wife of 18 years, mother to two sons...
And Now Let's Stop and add Cancer Survivor to this Amazing List of Life Accomplishments.
While cancer is not the only thing that defines Susan, it is what she has gone to work fighting, for approximately the last 975 days. That is 975 days living fairly well with Pancreatic Cancer. She still runs the house, plays with her kids, goes on trips, hosts parties, up until last winter skied with her husband and got to be her little sister's maid of honor last summer.
975 Days of NEVER Complaining About Any of the Following:
- Living with only 20 % of a Pancreas that now doesn't work at all.
- Living with diabetes.
- Living with a reconstructed portal vein.
- Living with finding a way to explain all this to your six and eight year old kids.
- Living with not being able to digest food properly.
- Living with a daily regimen of 25 different ways she cares for her own self through naturopathic supplements, insulin, pain killers and blood boosters.
- Living with comforting your family and friends when really you are the one who needs comforting.
- Living with mounting medical bills and fighting insurance companies to ensure they stay manageable for a family with now only one income.
- Living with your hair falling out.
- Living with taking a gamut of genetic testing only to find out there is no answer as to why this is happening.
- Living with watching the government taking months to approve a new treatment that could buy you more time.
- Living with the highs of seeing your cancer markers drop.
- Living with the lows of seeing your cancer markers rise when those cells have decided to become immune to chemotherapy.
You See Susan Doesn't Take Many People Inside Her Daily Battle because She is Grateful to be Living.
After all, the statistics will tell you most people only live 97 days, not 975, after being diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. Yes, these statistics are hard to swallow, but sometime you need to…
Stare the Truth Straight in the Eye and say "Come on; Give Me Your Best Shot."
And that is exactly what our family is doing after recently learning the cancer inside of Susan has metastasized to her liver.
We know this news will come as a shock to many of you close to Susan. What her immediate family needs you to do is the following:
1. Take a deep breath.
2. Respect their space. Right now, things are changing every day. Susan does not have the energy to keep everyone up to date and needs to focus on her well-being, her husband and her kids. Her sister Jani will send out updates as they come available. If you have questions, you can email her at [email redacted] and she will do her best to respond and/or update Susan's Staying Cancer Free facebook page.
3. Treat her normally. While her energy is waning, she still wants just to be herself. She will have tea and talk about anything besides cancer. She will meet you at the playground so the kids can run around.
4. Offer to go grocery shopping.
5. Consider making a financial contribution through this webpage.
Because We Are Not Giving Up!
Donating to Susan will help with the following:
1. Starting Flourouracil (5-FU) and Folinic acid (or Leucovorin): Fluorouracil interferes with cells making DNA and RNA, which stops the growth of cancer cells.
Leucovorin can be used to increase the efficacy of Fluorouracil.
There is another drug, Oxaliplatin, which is a platinum-compound chemotherapy drug that acts as an alkylating agent. It stops the growth of cancer cells, which causes the cells to die - this drug is current NOT covered by the family's 3rd party insurance.
2. Pursuing a Second Opinion in Seattle: Just over the border from Susan’s home is a leading Pancreatic Cancer treatment centre. They have found administering an enzyme/chemotherapy combination results in rapid reduction of the interstitial fluid pressure, which in turn opens up the blood vessels and permits chemotherapy to reach the tumor in the Pancreas. Their main doctor says the results of these clinical trials “represents the largest survival increase we’ve seen in any of the studies done in a preclinical model, and it rivals the very best results reported in humans.” Susan plans on travelling to Seattle this week to seek their opinion on her case and see if they think their treatment can help her. Read more on the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
3. Access to naturopathic treatments to complement scientific care: If you know Susan, you know she’s a bit of a hippie. She has been seeing a Naturopath who has helped her with digestion immensely. These treatments are expensive and are not covered by any insurance.
4. Allowing Susan to purchase organic produce: In order to reach her recommended food nutrient daily dosage, Susan's juicing can get quite costly.
We, her family, sincerely hope you choose to help with financial gift if you can. It will ease the financial stress and will make Susan believe that…
It’s Never Too Late for a Miracle.
Some Words of Wisdom:
"Our family is suffering with cancer but we are NOT going to let cancer rob us from the happy days and times we have left together."
- Marilyn Sorensen, Susan's mother
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
- The Thomson and Sorensen families
To learn more about Susan's 975 days living with Pancreatic Cancer visit her Staying Cancer Free facebook page.
To learn more about her cancer treatments so far and clinical trials she has benefitted from visit Pancreas Centre BC.