Lori Wiser The Warrior

On December 26 2016 my life as I knew it ended with brain surgery and my diagnosis of glioblastoma multi-form.  Obviously, we were devastated with the diagnosis.  I was given 6-12 months to live without aggressive treatment.  I made a commitment to myself and my family that I would do whatever it takes to try and defeat this most oppressive disease.
Thanks to my sons good friend Zereck and his wife, they told us about a wonderful new tcell therapy specific to my cancer at the City Of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, California.  In May of 2017, our surgeon, Dr. Gore, operated on me and removed as much as this fast growing tumor & sent live samples to the City Of Hope to see if my type of cancer matched the studies area of focus.  We were relieved to find out that I was a 100% match for the therapy!  Our family made the trip to Duarte, California and enrolled in the treatment.  This treatment took about 4 months to complete.  There were some perils encountered during the therapy that had a huge impact on my health.

I contracted Spinal Meningitis and a Staff Infection that set me back several weeks.  It required a tremendous amount of antibiotics and recovery time.  The source of these infections were directly related to the ports that were installed to administer the tcells.  One port was removed and they left the second one in place so I could finish my therapy.  I completed the therapy right before Christmas and was happy that I would be home with my kids and family to enjoy the Holidays.  

Through most of January, I was feeling pretty good as my strength and stamina were improving and my physical condition was improved.  On January 22 we celebrated Doug's birthday at Saltys and had a wonderful time with out family and friends.  Then, around 2:00 am, on the morning of the 23rd, I woke up with the worst headache pain that I have ever experienced during this whole process.  I was diagnosed with a bone infection on my skull and underwent an emergency surgery to remove the infected bone.  Since then I have had 4 more serious procedures to battle a variety of complications.  I spent nearly a month in ICU convalescing from all of the complications.  

You can't imagine the stress and strain that this has placed on me and my family.  Yes, we do have great insurance, but as most of you understand, there is a substantial amount of costs that are not covered by insurance.  We also incurred costs for our stay and travel in California.  We currently have our home for sale as I'm no longer capable of providing income for our support.  We have huge medical bills that we know will be nearly impossible to manage.  Doug and I have worked very hard most of our lives and in an instant our savings were gone and our lives have been changed forever.  

The good news is that my cancer treatments have been working and at this moment in time, my tumor is stable and not expanding. I face 2-4 weeks of physical therapy and my hope is to return home and start working on my bucket list of things that I would like to do with the limited time I have left.  I would like to say thanks to all our friends and family who have been so supportive and thoughtful.  Doug and I have found that everyone has been so wonderful to us that there are few words that we can use to describe their kindness.  

Thanks to all of you for everything that you have done for me and my family!  Love you all!

-Lori