Cancer's Tough, but Bruisin' Redhead is Tougher

As much as I hate asking for help, especially financial help, a friend told me to basically swallow my pride and there comes a time when you need to let others that want to help you, do so. So, I’m here asking for help if you are so inclined.

As you know, I was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer in January 2020. As if COVID wasn’t enough for everyone in 2020, I had to go through treatment, a double mastectomy, and DIEP reconstruction surgery. Since that wasn’t possibly challenging enough lol, the mastectomy left me with frozen shoulder, leading to more pain and mobility issues, which required almost a year of physical therapy and a couple months of acupuncture to get back to about 80% mobility.

Fast forward to June of 2021, when what was thought to be fat necrosis (common with both surgeries I had), turned out to be a local recurrence of the original cancer, most likely caused by what is called “seeding” based on the location. This tumor is within my pectoralis muscle and too close to a rib, so currently, until it shrinks, it is inoperable. The goal though is to kill the tumor without having to do surgery.

For those that do not know, triple negative is considered the MOST AGGRESSIVE form of breast cancer as there is nothing specific chemo can target (there are no hormones involved), they throw the heaviest and the worst chemos (3 kinds) at it and then just hope for the best. Thus, it is the BEAST of breast cancer, and the hardest to overcome. Even though I did so much the first time (to the point where I felt like I had two jobs, only one wasn’t paid and it was just healing), and I thought what I was doing was enough, and for a while, it was, unfortunately it is no longer enough. This beast needs more thrown at it then even I and my doctor thought necessary, so this time that’s what it is going to get.

Those that know me, know I’m a born researcher. Since my original diagnosis in 2020, I have not stopped researching cancer and the best treatments, especially for triple negative breast cancer. While I do not mean this derogatory at all, I’ve probably read more studies in the last year and a half than most doctors have read in that same time frame. To me, knowledge is power, and part of what is going to help me win this fight. Unlike traditional breast cancer treatment that does not take the individual into consideration, what I want to do, does. Through my research, and knowledge of MY particular body’s makeup, I know that traditional chemo is NOT the answer, it will NOT help me win this fight. In fact, due to some genetic mutations, it’s likely to either: (1) kill me long before the cancer would (no thanks), or (2) leave me with devastating, lifetime side effects which would make life not worth living (not how I want to live). So, the researcher in me kicked in again, it took everything I’ve learned over the past year and a half and said, find the BEST place that offers everything you need to beat this and to keep it gone. So, I did.

I’ve found the best possible option and thankfully it’s right here in the US (I thought I was going to have to go to Germany, which would have been an even bigger hardship). But I found an amazing clinic owned by a world-renowned alternative cancer doctor who trained under other world-renowned alternative cancer doctors in Germany and Japan. He’s been doing this for over 30 years. This clinic’s 10-year survival rate for triple negative exceeds the 5-year survival rate for chemo for TNBC by over 20%! They are at 90% (and that’s not even considering the quality-of-life aspect which makes their success even better). However, this all comes at a cost, when your clinic must have such specialized knowledge and training that the doctors are double licensed (MD and MDH) and the almost all the nurses have masters degrees, not to mention that they must fly to Germany for supplies and bring them back, those costs alone add up. But to me it’s worth every penny. Even my cheapskate husband (lol) is in agreement here, this is NOT the time to be cheap, this is the time to get the best care possible to not only beat this beast, but keep it gone, and THRIVE! So that’s what I’m going to do. The average cost for these treatments is $10-12k per week and they said because of triple negative breast cancer, I will likely need 8 weeks (6 weeks is the minimum though) of treatment, though even that can change depending on how my body responds to the various treatments. After I complete the program, there will be follow-up care once I return home (which will not be nearly that much, but there still will be costs even after the clinic stay to keep it in remission). This clinic is an all day, Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm commitment. But in addition to the various treatments (including a more targeted, immune system friendly low-dose chemo), which not only focus on killing the cancer, the clinic focuses on training your immune system to recognize cancer and kill it (we all have cancer in our body, the difference is my immune system cannot tell the difference to kill it), they also focus on the whole body, so I will attend counseling, learn to cook the best anti-cancer diet foods, as well as various other detox modalities to make my immune system a fighter.

Most of the medical costs will NOT be covered by insurance (unfortunately this is the name of the game in the US if you don’t want to follow the conventional “gold standard” (even if that “gold standard” does kill people)). Not to mention there will be many travel costs, and Kevin will have to fly back and forth to Arizona to take care of me after certain treatments where they do not allow you to be alone overnight.

Stress is one thing that cancer loves, so it needs to be reduced as much as possible. Which is why I’m asking for help. While we’ll do whatever we need to do to make this work, the stress of this financial burden is not good for me to deal with while battling cancer. So, I’m asking for help to ease the financial burden so I can focus all my energy on beating this horrible disease (and learning how to keep it gone – this clinic does that too).

For those touched by cancer, you know this type of diagnosis affects more than just the patient. This is and will continue to upend normal daily life, not just for a short time, but for many years to come in order to get (and KEEP) cancer in remission. If you are inclined, please donate whatever you can, every dollar helps and is appreciated. Please help me share my story and raise money to offset some of the excessive costs involved in making sure Bruisin’ Redhead is alive and thriving for many years to come. I’m beyond appreciative of any and all support.