Help with our Mom's path to victory

Hey everyone,

 

We're reaching out to you all because our incredible Mom has been walking through her victory journey of cancer since 2023, and this new route requires help from our village. A little recap of the last year to get you all caught up on what our family has been walking through:

 

In December 2022, Mom started bleeding but thought it was a possible sign of menopause, so she didn’t investigate it any further. Fast forward to May 2023, Mom finally saw her gynecologist as she was still bleeding. At this time, he decided to do a scraping of her uterine lining and said everything should be good to go from here but sent in a biopsy just to make sure everything was ok.

 

June 2023, Mom got a call that the results indicated the presence of cancer cells. At this time, her gynecologist was saying “We’re in a good place, we’ve caught everything in time.” But they sent the biopsy to the Mayo Clinic as it was showing signs of a low-grade cancer and a high-grade cancer, and they needed a more thorough look.

 

August 2023, Mom finally felt at peace with getting a full hysterectomy, with the plan that they’d remove anything that could possibly be cancerous, and she’d be given the clear, and the bleeding would stop! Her oncologist performed a successful hysterectomy, and they didn’t see anything they thought could be cancer. The bleeding has stopped! Praise the Lord!

 

Her oncologist team still highly recommended Mom goes through chemo at this point as a precautionary treatment only. Mom and Dad were told that without chemo, the likelihood of recurrence was 50-70% and non-curable after that, but with chemo it was about a 30% chance of reoccurrence. Mom and Dad took some time to process this option, pray and discuss it with us all.

 

With all our support, Mom made the hard decision to do 6 rounds of chemo. We all prayed the chemo would ONLY attack what it needed to, and there would be no other side effects for her. 

 

3 weeks later, Mom starts to bleed again. Mom and Dad met with her oncologist again to check things out. It appears there may be a tumor on her vaginal wall, causing the bleeding. Her oncologist was even more thankful she had decided to move forward with chemo with this new discovery.

 

On November 7, all of us girls head down to CancerCare to help Mom pick out the cutest new hairpiece! She is just so beautiful!!

 

On November 8, Mom and Danica headed off to her first day of chemo, armed with worship music, sermons, reading, and snacks. God was in the details here as we were given the best nurse, Karen, who walked us through this whole day so caring and gently. After a few bumps due to Mom not taking well to the initial medication, the chemo started, and she was able to rest for a few hours. Something I don’t think anyone could prepare you for is seeing your Mom, the strongest, most optimistic, joyful, caring person you know, be pumped full of chemo. To this day, that was still the hardest day for Danica.

 

Mom and Danica would continue to attend chemo treatments every 3 weeks until the halfway point on December 20. Of course, Mom always had fun nails that the nurses would comment on, and she brought Christmas treats for Karen on her last treatment before Christmas.

 

Halfway done at Christmas time! Woohoo! Throughout treatment, Mom continued with additional holistic treatments such a bio resonance, acupuncture, beamer, supplements, lymphatic drainage massage, network chiropractic, a clean diet and everyday diligently studying scripture, healing, and God’s promises. So far, except for hair loss and a few tired days post-chemo, Mom is feeling great and had very few side effects - just what we prayed for! God is so good and faithful.

 

On January 2, 2024, Mom goes in for the halfway point tests and imaging to ensure we are still on the right track. Unfortunately, this is when we learn the chemo is not working, and the tumour has grown since we started. The decision is made to stop chemo as it’s not working.

 

The next thing to discuss was localized radiation to see if that would shrink this tumor and get rid of it fully. At first, we were told that they could do it internally and it would just hit the tumor itself. Once Mom met with the radiologist, they realized the tumour was too big internal radiation wouldn’t be possible, and they’d have to do external radiation that could affect her bladder and colon long-term. She was scheduled to do this treatment 5 days a week for 6 weeks starting February 20th. Due to the radiation causing swelling, they wouldn’t have been able to know if it had worked again, before possibly starting more radiation. 

 

After two of the best medical options (surgery & chemo) weren’t successful and the long-term possible side effects with radiation, plus the wait time post radiation to see if it even worked, Mom didn’t feel at peace continuing this route. However, we’re quite limited to our options and second opinions here in Canada.

 

That is what has led us to find a facility in Mexico called Hope4Cancer that aligns so much better with the way Mom wants to continue her journey of victory. We are sending Mom (and Dad) to this state-of-the-art facility for 3 weeks. Here, she will be getting multiple non-toxic, immune supporting therapies every day to optimize her immune system to not allow cancer to live and grow in her body. At Hope4Cancer, they don’t only focus on the physical aspects of cancer but also the spiritual and emotional aspects as well. 

 

Some of the therapies she will get while there are:

 

She will attend these therapies for 6-8 hours a day, 6 days a week for 3 weeks. The end goal at 3 weeks is to stabilize the patient and the disease, killing the cancers cells and optimizing the immune system. She will have all her meals provided for her by a nutritionist based what she needs, and dad, as her companion, will have access to the all-inclusive hotel they are put up in, with all his needs met too.

 

After the 3 weeks, Mom will be sent home with a plan, therapies and all the necessary tools and supplies to continue doing what she has been doing. She will go for a 3 month follow up and a 6-9 month follow up based on her results, all with having access to support and a team whenever she needs.

 

Naturally, this is a large financial expense, but no questions asked, Mom is worth it and we are going to do what it takes to make it happen for her. Mom has always been there for us, is the first to offer help to anyone, and now it's our turn to rally around her. Mom has been pouring all her strength, knowledge, and resources into being victorious in this journey, supporting her body in the best way she knows how. This opportunity is an answer to prayer, where she’ll be able to simply receive the therapies, she needs without having to navigate the how/what/when on her own.

 

We know Mom would rather help than be helped, so that is why, as her kids, we're setting up this GoFundMe page to ask for support from our village. We know times are tough for many rights now, so your prayers and encouragement mean just as much as any financial contribution. Any donation, no matter how small, will go directly towards covering these expenses, treatments, and any other costs associated with her victorious journey of healing.

 

In an effort to be fully transparent, here is an approximate cost breakdown:

 

Any money that is not used to support Mom in this journey directly will be donated back to Hope4Cancer so they can continue to help those seeking these types of therapies.

 

We are choosing to walk in faith and hope during this journey, so we ask that there be no doubt, negativity or unbelief spoken over Mom either directly or indirectly. Our words are powerful, and we are only speaking LIFE and God’s promises over her.

 

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being part of our Mom's village. We know she is victorious, and the battle has already been won!

 

If you’d prefer to donate directly to an account we have set up for this, you can reach out to Janelle, Bryanne or Danica, and we'll give you an email address you can send it to. You can also reach out for the email if you want to send Mom any encouragement over this next year - Mom loves and believes strongly in the community, so your encouragement, verses and uplifting words will mean so much to her!

 

We’re so excited to show Mom how many people love, care, and want to support her through this journey.

 

Much love,

Dad, Janelle, Bryanne & Delwin, Danica & Ryan