Effective Cancer Treatment for Katy

Please support our efforts to raise funds for Katy to receive effective cancer treatment.

 

Katy is my younger sister. She is a 34-year-old, wife and mother of two bright and hopeful children ages 5 and 3. She has a reputation in our family as being strong-minded, fiercely loyal, funny and extremely resilient. Katy loves new adventures, healthy foods, campfires, daring fashion statements and Bob Dylan. Always a fearless soul she has never been afraid to try new things. Sadly, many adventures have been cut short, cancelled or rendered impossible because of her battles with chronic illness.

 

For the past five years Katy has been severely ill.

 

In 2016 and 2018, Katy endured two very traumatic childbirths. The first birth resulted in an emergency C-Section. The lining of her bowel was punctured by a surgical instrument resulting in an eight-day hospitalization. The second birth resulted in a ruptured uterus. Again resulting in an emergency surgery, a lot of blood transfusion and eleven days in the ICU. I will spare the details of these injuries; however, I will say that we believe these traumas could have been avoided and that following these extreme surgeries, her health has deteriorated. We believe that these traumatic procedures set off a chain of events in Katy’s immune system that have lead to her chronic illness and subsequent cancer diagnosis.

 

Since then, Katy has continued to deal with a long list of severe symptoms. She has been to countless specialists. All of whom have left our family with more questions than answers. No one has been able to clearly assess Katy’s collection of ailments, put all the pieces together or offer a clear diagnosis and treatment plan.

 

Over the past five years of battling a constellation of symptoms (coughing, bleeding, stomach pains, migraines, skin lesions, fatigue etc.), Katy has been passed from one medical professional to another. Each of them referring her to yet another specialist. She was repeatedly sent home from ER visits and doctor’s appointments with no answers. She was told by some that her ailments were just “anxiety”. She was even told that she had a “simple case of acid reflux” and was sent home with a prescription for Pepto-Bismol. In short, she was not taken seriously and the collection of “specialists” seemed incapable of cross communicating or connecting symptoms outside their specialization.

 

Last year, Katy went to a naturopath to see if she could get different results. Within two weeks she was diagnosed with a Multi Nodular Goiter in her neck and antibodies associated Lyme disease exposure.

 

In December 2020, Katy was diagnosed with Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma and had her Thyroid removed. We were told that all of the diseased or dangerous nodules had been removed.

 

Over the past year, her symptoms have continued to worsen! A recent blood test, biopsy and scan have shown that residual malignant thyroid tissue and malignant lymph nodes are present and are continuing to grow. This has led us to a current diagnosis of Metastatic Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.

 

Katy is being advised to endure yet another surgery and a form of radiation treatment known as radioactive iodine. It is understandable that after five years of being misdiagnosed and subjected to multiple surgeries that have only worsened her condition, she is seeking a more holistic, non-invasive approach to treatment.

 

The current mainstream approach to treating cancer involves a “one size fits all” approach. The options are 1) Cut it out (surgery), 2) Burn it out (radiation), or 3) Poison it (Chemo).

 

Throughout this journey Katy has had to become her own advocate. Piecing parts of the health puzzle together. Without having a clear diagnosis for so long, it has been near impossible for Katy to garner the targeted treatments needed to heal and to prevent worsening health complications. Say nothing about the emotional toll of not being taken seriously all the while knowing deep down that something is seriously wrong.

 

It is difficult to put into words how confusing and complicated her journey through the managed health care system has been and frankly, how completely ineffective and traumatizing. While Katy is grateful for the life saving healthcare she has received during acute emergencies, we believe that a more holistic approach is necessary for sustainable recovery.

 

We know that Katy’s body does not respond well to surgeries and that her immune system is already severely compromised. We feel that the best way to help Katy restore her health is to pursue advanced, integrative, personalized treatment through a specialized oncology center operating outside of the mainstream hospital system.

 

We are not ready to lose our sister, mother, wife and daughter!! We are not ready to watch her go through another several years of ineffective treatments. Good treatment is available.

 

We have identified an alternative cancer treatment center, which focuses on a holistic and highly individualized approach to treating illness. The center uses highly individualized treatment plans that involve a systemic approach to healing the root causes of cancer. There are several of these facilities throughout the world.

 

Unfortunately, insurance does not cover these costs.

 

A silver lining from this experience is that it has sparked a true passion in Katy to understand natural approaches to healing. She has worked hard to fortify her body with wellness practices that she has access to at home including super-foods, meditation, and therapy. She needs specialized treatment. She is ready. Her mind is focused on healing. She cannot afford to be sick any longer. We need your support.

 

I believe that once Katy is able to receive the treatment she requires and is able to truly get on the other side of this battle, she will become an incredible advocate for others who are struggling with chronic illness. I look forward to the great work we will someday do together to help others. In the meantime, we ask for your support to get Katy the help she so desperately needs.

 

Any amount that you can contribute will help and will be truly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to hear our story and consider our request. If you are interested in learning more about alternative oncology treatments, we recommend the following resources:

 

- Envita Cancer Center

- Hope4Cancer

- The Truth About Cancer

 

Also, you can learn more about Katy’s story and follow her healing journey on Facebook at KatyFogellGordon

 

READ KATY's PERSONAL STORY BELOW:

 

My Health Story

Thursday, October 21, 2021 2:15 PM

 

Hi! My name is Katy Fogell Gordon. I am a 34 year old wife and mother of two amazing children, ages 5 and 3. The purpose of this page is to share my story. This might look like a lengthy story, but this is a very shortened version.

 

My husband, Sean, and I moved into our first home together in the summer of 2015. In April of 2016, over the course of three days, Sean was taken to the ER receiving a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis, and, my family unexpectedly lost my father on the day he was scheduled to move in with us from Florida. Three months later, in August, our daughter Maylin was born following a three day induced labor. I had an emergency c-section with some complications. The lining of my bowel was punctured during surgery and I lost 2 liters of blood. I spent eight days in the hospital. Despite our overwhelming joy and love for our daughter, I was unhealthy, overweight, and generally unwell. I spent the next year working hard at learning how to be a new mother and find health.

 

In April 2018, I gave birth to our son Sean II, better known as Seaner. I had an induced thirty six hour labor that ended with a traumatic delivery. Sean was 10lbs 3oz and had shoulder dystocia, a condition where the baby's arm is trapped around the mother's pelvic bone. The nurse pulled up a stool and climbed up above me. She put her hands together and with both palms and all her weight, jumped down into my stomach. She was freeing Sean's arm from my pelvic bone. He was delivered moments later. I held him and couldn't have been more grateful. Something was wrong though. I was slipping away. All I could feel was that I desperately needed to go to sleep and inside I knew I was saying goodbye. The problem was, that I was bleeding heavily internally. The doctors were unaware that the previous incision on my uterus had ruptured when the nurse freed Sean and I was losing blood fast. The doctor realized what happened as I was losing consciousness and the blood started coming out of me. A team of almost twenty medical staff rushed me into the OR leaving Sean and our son Seaner in the delivery room alone surrounded by blood. I spent six hours in surgery with every surgeon they had available from multiple departments. They removed my uterus, turned it inside out, repaired it, and put me back together. It had torn 8cm horizontally, 4cm vertically on one side, and 5cm vertically on the other. All in all, I lost 4.5 liters of blood, received nine red blood cell transfusions, one transfusion of plasma, and spent the next eleven days in the ICU.

 

After that, we went home to recover and try to start our life with a new member of our family. We were so grateful that we made it out alive, all of us. But something was wrong. It was a month before the slow internal bleeding finally stopped. My entire stomach was swollen, black, blue, and purple from the blood. I also had adverse reactions to the transfusions with my entire body breaking out in a leathery rash. I continued bleeding heavily, had severe stomach pain, fatigue, and headaches. I was not receiving answers from doctors and put on various medications.

 

In March of 2019, I was sick. We found out that I was pregnant, despite taking oral contraceptives. The doctor told us that my contraceptives may have failed due to my medications and nausea/vomiting. Regardless, I was fourteen weeks pregnant and it was not safe for me to complete the pregnancy. I was advised that a D&C and removal of my Fallopian tubes was my best, and safest, option. In April, We reluctantly went ahead with the surgery. I was told a three day recovery was expected, but instead of recovering, my health rapidly declined. In May, on my second trip to the ER due to pain and heavy bleeding, I was diagnosed with a Uterine Arterio-Venous Malformation(AVM). I was one of only or hundred women in the world to be diagnosed with this condition. Two weeks later, I found myself back in the ER. While I was there, I lost consciousness in the bathroom due to hemorrhaging an estimated 2.5 liters of blood. I was admitted to the hospital for 3 days while they attempted to stop the bleeding through balloon catheters and artery embolization. I underwent bilateral uterine artery embolization. It was at this point that my health took a dramatic downward turn.

 

June 2019 through July 2020 included many trips to the ER and a vast array of specialists. I had so many symptoms in every system of my body. I was in so much pain, I would be on the floor coughing for hours and days at a time, week after week, month after month. It kept getting worse. I couldn’t eat or sleep. I coughed so hard it caused me to repeatedly fracture three of my ribs. I would cough, and still do at times, until my body would get so exhausted that I would sleep for ten days straight, awake only four or five hours a day. I had a sinus infection that is still present today, veins bulging from my arms and legs, extremely high blood pressure, migraines, dizziness, confusion, pain in my spine, extreme stomach pain and bloating. The list was, and still is, endless. I was pleading for help. I was told my threshold for pain might be lower than others; if you know me at all, you know this is not true. I was told that it’s understandable to have anxiety following the trauma I endured. I was told that I was fine. That was the hardest year of my life. Trying to understand why, when my body was under attack, not only was I not receiving help, I was being patronized. I was put on all kinds of medications including stimulants, antidepressants, and anti anxiety, none of which worked. I knew in my gut that something serious was happening in my body.

 

In August of 2020, I decided to give Naturopathic medicine a try. Within two weeks I had been diagnosed with a multinodular goiter and antibodies associated with Lyme Disease. I was hesitant to have another surgery. I had experienced worsening symptoms following each of my previous surgeries, and I was already so sick. I was told my thyroid was not the cause of such severe symptoms so, even with the diagnosis of cancer, we still didn’t know the root of my disease state. At the advise of my doctors, I decided to go ahead with surgery.

 

A few days prior to my surgery, Sean and I put the kids in the car to take our daughter Maylin to an urgent care because she had been sick all week with what we thought was a cold, but her symptoms were taking a bad turn. As we were pulling out of the driveway, we altered our plans. She was breathing heavily, in a daze, and holding her hands out in front of her, fingers fully locked. She was unresponsive and we knew something horrible was happening. We took her to the nearest emergency room. It was determined that she was in a state of diabetic ketoacidosis and given meds to slow the swelling in her brain. She was then airlifted to the nearest pediatric hospital. She was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. While she was still in the hospital recovering, I left her and Sean and was admitted to the Rogel Cancer Center, one building away. I underwent a total thyroidectomy to remove my malignant thyroid. I was told, confidently, that all of the cancer had been removed.

 

From January through May of this year, my symptoms improved in some ways, and worsened in others. I was diagnosed with post surgical hypoparathyroidism, a condition that is caused by trauma to the parathyroid glands during surgery. It is a complex system, but essentially, your parathyroid glands are responsible for producing a hormone that is used to activate Vitamin D in our bodies. Activated vitamin D is needed in our bodies to absorb essential minerals. As a result, I was diagnosed with hypocalcemia, calcium deficiency, and later, hypokalemia, potassium deficiency.

 

In May of this year, a thyroglobulin blood test, used as a tumor marker in thyroid cancer patients, revealed higher than normal levels. A follow up ultrasound revealed three enlarged lymph nodes. I was advised that we needed to retest in three months to determine if the levels are rising or falling. In August, a repeat thyroglobulin blood test was performed, revealing rising levels. The follow up ultrasound in September confirmed the presence of enlarged lymph nodes and some abnormal tissues outside of the thyroid bed. I had a biopsy performed early this month confirming the presence of metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma. I am scheduled for a whole body thyroid scan on November 3rd to determine if the cancer has metastasized to distant locations. I was told that another surgery is necessary, as well as a form of radiation known as radioactive iodine.

 

Fortunately, through my extensive research and quest for health, I have discovered that there are other options. I have learned, through this experience, through trial and error, and extensive research, that if we expand our approach to, and understanding of, disease, true health is possible.

 

It is my hope to find it. May you find it too.