Funding for Tracy

I have set up this Go Fund Me for my wife Tracy Verblis.

In May 2022 my wife Tracy experienced a seizure at home in Bristol, UK (where we lived at the time) which caused temporary memory loss and advanced confusion, on the advice of the Doctors at A&E Tracy was placed on a cardiology ward for overnight observation and tests due to some minor heart issues that they believed may have caused this seizure.

After a week of observation and tests Tracy experienced another seizure which was much more serious. She then had to undergo further tests including CT scans and MRI’s and was kept in hospital for a duration of over 3 weeks where she then contracted Covid 19.

During this time in isolation Tracy unfortunately missed our son’s 5th birthday and a few days before her 47th birthday received the devastating diagnoses that they had found a lesion on her brain and that she had terminal Brain Cancer.

Glioblastoma Multiforme is an aggressive brain cancer that starts in the brain in the form of a tumour. They are also called "brain's own" tumours. The most common glioma is glioblastoma, one of the most malignant brain tumours.

Gliomas are classified according to the WHO classification (grade 1-4). The more malignant a tumour and the faster it grows, the higher the grade. The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks glioblastoma as a grade 4 brain tumour, which is the most severe brain tumour.

It is considered the deadliest form of cancer in the world, known as the ‘terminator’ due to its extremely poor prognosis, the most common length of survival following diagnosis is only 10 to 13 months, with fewer than 1 to 3% of people surviving longer than five years.

Tracy underwent brain surgery on the 31st May and the operation went well, 100% successful resection (removal) of the tumour was achieved, however, due to the aggressive unrelenting nature of this cancer, microscopic cancer cells will inevitably result in recurrence, as sadly there is currently no known scientific cure for this devastating illness.

After her 6 weeks of radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment in Bristol, Tracy and her family moved back home to Ireland (August 2022) to continue her chemotherapy treatment and to be closer to her family for support as she continues to battle this disease.

Tracy is determined to become one of the rare ‘long term’ survivors who have managed to beat the overwhelming odds and live longer than the median survival times, considered as (long term survivors)

By adopting a strict therapeutic ketogenic diet, off label medication treatments, natural supplements as well as complementary therapies such as yoga and reflexology Tracy spends every waking day fighting this illness. She is also an extremely positive individual and is focussed on making the most of every opportunity to get better and heal.

Tracy is now on a mission to undertake dendritic cell therapies that target the tumour directly with her own immune system. This treatment has seen some success in doubling or even tripling the life expectancies in Glioblastoma patients.

This ground-breaking treatment is now available privately in the UK. It’s called DCVAX-L and is a new type of dendritic cell immunotherapy. A personalised vaccine made from each patient’s own dendritic cells. Developed by Northwest Biotherapeutics in the USA, it has been FDA approved and the UK have been authorised to administer to specific patients under a pilot special scheme.

Tracy is the perfect candidate for this treatment and our family are now on a mission to fundraise the finances required to have this treatment so that she can spend as many years as she can with her 5-year-old son and family.

Every single day living with a glioblastoma diagnosis is a fight for survival. Trying to live a ‘Normal’ life while being a mother to her son is sometimes overwhelming while facing the fear of the abyss.

The glimmer of light in this darkness is the possibility of the dendritic cell treatment extending Tracy's life until another life extending treatment or even a cure can be found, pushing this cancer into remission.

This prospect provides enough hope to give Tracy and her family the strength to keep fighting and with the support of her friends, family, and colleagues she is determined to fight this terrible illness and survive as long as possible for her young son and family.

I have set up this Go-fund me page to raise awareness of Tracys fight and hopefully raise the vital finances required to cover the cost of producing the personalised vaccine, subsequent doses, flights, travel, accommodation, consultations, HBOT, medication, supplements which without financial support would be completely impossible.

Our aim is to raise €350,000 to cover the total costs required.

Thank you for supporting us and helping us to reach our goal. We are so incredibly grateful for any support you can offer, no matter how big or small.

Daniel Verblis