Cancer Treatment Fund for Shannon

The Story So Far:

Shannon’s first doctor visits told her not to worry about the lumps she had found in her breasts. "Do you have any breast cancer in your family?” and “You are too young.” were the common sentiments and no further testing was recommended. Finally, she was able to get an ultrasound which prompted her new doctor to get a needle biopsy as more of a cautionary measure and to put her worries away.

Unfortunately, that needle biopsy came back positive for breast cancer and with her recent back troubles they sent her for an MRI within the week. Shannon went from being a super active 33 year old who was newly married, running her own interior decorating business, planning to start a family in their new home in Pemberton, to Stage 4 breast cancer with bone metastasis in the blink of an eye.

This is when you drop everything and re-assess your entire life, which is exactly what she did. She started researching and aggressively treating the cancer by combining both conventional and alternative treatments. Things seemed stable for a while, with a few ups and downs along the way. She had to have a major surgery on her thoracic spine to stabilize the bone mets that spread through her spine and threatened to impinge on the spinal cord. Since then she has had 4 radiation treatments to stabilize different areas of bone metastases. All the while maintaining a positive outlook on life and this crazy journey.

Update:

Recently Shannon discovered that the cancer has spread to her brain. She started to experience double vision and headed to emergency where they confirmed through CT and MRI that there are over 10 tumours throughout her brain.

Shannon is scheduled to start radiation therapy this week and through much research has decided to combine it with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy which has been shown to effectively increase the positive response rate radiation while minimizing the negative effects. Treatments cost $350 per session and Shannon needs 8 sessions. If you are interested in reading more about that therapy combination here is more information https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6307382/ .

Cancer is a very draining experience, both mentally, emotionally and financially. Over the past 4 years (which is a win in itself to be alive this long!) Shannon and Al have tried to be creative about ways to supplement a second income since Shannon is no longer able to work due to instability in the disease. They have Air bnb’d their home, living with family during those times, and Al takes many side jobs keeping him busy but also away from spending quality time with his wife. This new financial reality led them to the incredibly difficult decision to list their home for sale. Since receiving this new diagnosis, the stress of selling a home is just too much and they have taken the listing down for the time being.

If you know Shannon, you know that her home means everything to her. It has been her place of healing. Growing her own vegetable garden and creating delicious food from that garden is what sustains her. Having another summer to look forward to, without having to sell their house while dealing with the onslaught of treatments in her future is just one more thing they hope to take off the list of stressors.

Exciting Treatment Options:

There are some exciting treatment options available which Shannon is keen to try, but of course they come with a big price tag. Genomic testing of her specific cancer is a starting place, and that test alone costs $8000. However, once they have that detailed information about her cancer’s DNA, there are opportunities for targeted therapies and even personalized peptide vaccines. https://www.cegat.de/en/about-cegat/
In order to receive these vaccines Shannon would need to travel to Germany. Each trip to Germany is approximately $50,000, with several trips necessary. If the specific vaccine for Shannon goes through, she would have to travel back to Germany every 6 weeks or so to receive the medicine.

Thank you for being a friend in our beautiful friend’s fight.