I’ve had a really hard time sitting down and putting all that is going on into words. It feels like our family is living in a nightmare that refuses to end. But here is what we are facing:

Anna’s preliminary pathology has come back and both areas of her brain biopsy have come back as high grade glioma. Due to her genetic disorder of Li Fraumini Syndrome (LFS), this type of cancer has very limited treatment options in the United States. Chemotherapy is not an option due to LFS causing increased risk of cancer mutations similar to what happened to Anna’s sister, Ava. Radiation can also cause LFS patients to have increased mutations occur which is why St. Jude decided to only do localized radiation with Anna’s first tumor less than a year ago. The risk of a fatal cancer mutation induced by radiation is too great a risk to attempt this again with no proof of success. Anna has been eating a healthy organic diet since before her diagnosis, she takes many organic supplements, drinks 5 filtration water, and has done many different natural treatments to try to defend her body against this cancer over the years, but without success. There is still hope for our Anna, but that hope is in Germany! She has been accepted to a doctor in Germany named Dr. Frank Gansauge. He is specialized in the treatment of LFS, Glioma, and Glioblastoma. The treatment is called Dendritic Cell Therapy and the promising success rates for remission and cure FAR EXCEED the success rate for these type cancers in the US. We desperately want to give Anna the chance to participate in his treatment! It is our only valid hope that we have left! Anna’s St. Jude team is supportive of our decision to go to Germany and has already sent Anna’s medical records to Dr. Gansauge. Now, we just have to financially get her there to receive this treatment and give this chance to her. We have lost so much as a family! We have never really even had a chance to fully grieve the loss of Ava, Anna’s sister, due to our continued fight with this horrific disease! December 16th is the 3rd anniversary of Ava’s death, as we fight to save her sister Anna! We never dreamed this would be our lives. We have had to ask so much from our community, local businesses, our family, our friends across the nation over the years to keep us afloat. I have tried my best to thank EVERYONE for all they have done to support us over the years, but I know that all the thank you’s and gratefulness will never be sufficient for the amount of love, support, and help we have received. All that we really want as a family is to be normal, to be able to work and live like normal people. As soon as we think that might happen, we get knocked down yet again. So here we are again, broken and weary, and we ask yet again for your help. The treatment costs for the dendritic cell therapy in Germany ranges from 40,000-80,000 Euros. This translates to about $50,000-$90,000 in US dollars. This cost does not include flights, housing, or living expenses. We have about $20,000 to put toward these expenses but we also will not be able to work or make any additional money while we are with her through this treatment. We should find out on Wednesday of this week as to whether or not brain surgery to remove some of the tumors is still an option. If surgery is an option, it could buy us some time, but we don’t know yet. We are forever thankful and grateful for ALL the people and businesses who have been there for us through this nightmare! Whether it be prayers, love, or donations, we thank each and every one of you for everything! Your love has kept us afloat through these last 4 years. If all that you can do is pray, love, and send positivity our way, we understand and appreciate every bit of that too! This may be our last chance for Anna to make it through this.