MAZ's Fight to Cure the Incurable

The task before us is enormous, but it’s one that I have dedicated myself to every day since my diagnosis... Beating the unbeatable, or curing incurable cancer. Since fNHL is incurable by conventional means (and indeed, I did radiation with "curative intent" only to have the cancer go from Stage I prior to treatment to Stage III according to post-treatment scans~or IV, we can't be certain without another bone marrow biopsy...and I will NOT be volunteering for that again anytime soon!), just "listening to the doctor" or "doing what the doctor says" isn't going to be enough... my onco says so! Being diligenty proactive is key in this fight.

I have researched like my life depends on it ;) and I have, over hundreds and hundreds of hours of digging, found 4 people who have healed this cancer (well, 5, but the 5th then died from a recurrence, so let's just say 4). As a result, I have carefully blended a few different intense protocols to optimize my chances of a long, healthy survival (survival times are all over the map~anywhere from a few months to a few decades, but there is a definite line at about 10 years that most people struggle to make it past). My only regret in life to date is the amount of time that I've had to invest in cancer-related EVERYthing at a time that should have been all about my newborn baby and tiny toddler, but I also am grateful for being given this time with them when others I know have not been so fortunate.  

Although creating this fundraising campaign is something I have needed to do for quite some time (and I haven't even been able to thank the people who gave originally), it is something that I have put off and put off due to a total lack of time, the uncomfortable nature of asking for help, and perhaps a bit of denial... Denial because I just want to be a normal family with young children, to not spend each day entertaining life or death matters, to be able to at least have the option to go through a drive thru when we're pressed for time (I haven't had a lick of fast food or the like since last summer as it's strictly forbidden if you're trying to treat cancer holistically), to not have to worry about our JAZ + JAZ having also potentially gotten this cancer while in utero, and on and on... The rules of the protocol I am following are many, and the task is overwhelming, but I will do everything possible to be here for my children~it is my absolute duty as a parent. And I can say with certainty that I am not afraid of dying (Heaven is a magnificent place!), but I am terrified of the agonizing possibility of not being here to raise my 1 and 2-year-old babies.

We are dealing with hugely challenging matters all the time, both professionally and personally, most devastating of which has definitively been the fact that we are currently taking Jesse to a pediatric oncologist because SJ+I discovered a cluster of 3 small lymph nodes in his neck a couple of months ago and this is how I picked up on my cancer... He is being observed and we are hopeful that neither of our little guys will have to go through biopsies or the other painful procedures I've had. If you are familiar with our story, you may recall that not only did I receive the diagnosis only a few hours before I was admitted to the hospital for his birth (and he was mercifully born just after midnight so as to not share the diagnosis date), but the diagnosis was one of 4 cancers that can transfer in utero. With pregnancies just 6 months apart, that puts both babies at risk, and dealing with that has of course been absolutely crushing for both SJ and me... It's one thing to be diagnosed with incurable cancer at 40 years old, it's an entirely different thing when you are just beginning your life.  Our focus has very much been on protecting them from health risks and trying to minimize the impact of having a parent with a terminal diagnosis.  (Now life, of course, is a terminal condition, but my goal is to be traversing that path instead!)

This past year of reading and research and searching for answers to seemingly endless questions has led me to next steps... While I am diligently following a lifestyle protocol with the attempt to epigenetically influence the cancer, I know that, at this point, I need to prioritize 3 things amongst the many on my "to do" list:

1) Doing the GREECE test and other such testing that will allow me to discover precisely what the cancer cells in my body will respond to (including natural substances) so that I can fight this most effectively. See www.rgcc-group.com and www.americanmetaboliclaboratories.net 
Cost: $10,000+

2)  Pursuing GcMAF treatment. This appears to be the best chance at allowing my immune system to be able to "see" the cancer cells so that it can attack and kill them.  Cost as I understand it to date: $40,000+

3)  Having any and all amalgam/silver removed from my mouth. I do NOT dig time at the dentist at all, but hey, this is how 1 of the 4 I mentioned earlier overcame fNHL!  
Cost: TBD once I visit a holistic dentist

Unfortunately, this all comes with a terribly high price tag...easily tens of thousands of dollars and out of reach without a way to fund it. Despite the fact that we pay very high premiums (due to being self-employed~we founded a children's performing arts enrichment program about 10 years ago) and a small fortune for medical expenses, none of this is covered by insurance. Nor are any of the costly supplements we must replenish each month or so many of the "hidden" costs of cancer, of course. And with the slashed income that has come along with me not working, SJ needing to work considerably less since I don't have sufficient energy post-radiation to care for JAZ+JAZ by myself for extended periods of time, and moreover, the fact that we have had to basically REINVENT our children's theatre/livelihood since the day of my diagnosis due to endless location challenges, we are naturally struggling to cover it all~ We are putting all of our resources toward this, however. Time, energy, finances, grit... We focus on being hopeful for what is to come and looking to the Prince of Peace in all things. We are, after all, "citizens of heaven and sojourners on earth" (as the phenomenal Dr. Wayne Cordeiro, my pastor in Hawaii, illustrated the Philippians 3:20 concept).

Words cannot express how buoyed we are by those of you who have come actively alongside us in this, and so many of you have given toward this endeavour and we cannot thank you enough. If you haven’t yet AND you are able to do so, is it something you would kindly consider?