In 2018 I was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma. I went through a year of conventional treatment called immunotherapy, where I was clear the whole year (after they removed the cancer surgically) about 2 months after I stopped treatment the cancer came back, worse. The only treatments offered for me are clinical trials, which I do not feel confident about. I’ve decided to go another route by killing this thing through the Gerson Therapy. For those of you who have never heard of the Gerson therapy It is an unconventional program to kill cancer & other diseases developed by Dr. Gerson in the early 50’s that has been proven over & over again to kill cancer & has a very high success rate with killing cancer, especially melanoma. It is an intense nutritional regimen consisting of 13 juices a day with 5 coffee enemas & a whole lot of supplements & Whole Foods that are used to completely detox the body & bring it back to health. It is not an easy routine. Especially with a toddler, & it is a very expensive routine in which I have to stay completely dedicated to for 2 years. As I’m not able to work while on this therapy, most of the financial burden has been on my boyfriend & mother.  Our lives have been a-bit rough the last few years. In 2016 I lost my father suddenly. He was a CHP officer for San Luis Obispo county for 30 years or so, he had just retired & his death completely devastated our entire family, shortly after that I found out I was pregnant with my first child, would have been my fathers first grandchild, & I gave birth to her the day before my fathers birthday on may 1st 2017. A year after that, a month after my daughter, Talulas, first birthday I noticed a big lump behind my right ear. The chc doctor I saw told me it’s nothing & not to worry but I pushed for a second opinion, feeling like something was terribly wrong. 3 months after that when it was removed it was confirmed it was melanoma in my lymph nodes. Shortly after that I was urged to start immunotherapy. After struggling with the immunotherapy for a year & thinking I was going to be fine,it came back, probably at the worst time. My mother had a horrible head injury that left her unable to care for herself & I was spending most of my time taking care of her when I kept noticing more little lumps popping up, but I was kind of in denial thinking no way this could come back so fast & sure enough it came back, and worse. 

I grew up in Templeton, California loving the sun, & always at the beach, I lived in Australia for a year where I was constantly in the sun & lived in Kauai for 4 years, again constantly in the sun. I never thought with loving the sun so much this would ever happen. I had a mole on top of my head that I got removed in middle school & never thought twice. A few years ago while living in Santa Cruz I noticed it grew back & was painful, so I got it removed again, at that time the dr said it was benigned, so of course I didn’t worry. Shortly after that is when my father passed & 2 years after that it had manifested into full blown melanoma. 

I do not want my tragedies & struggles to define me, I’m determined to stay alive, for my daughter who will be 3 soon. It has been a bit of a rough patch for us & my daughter deserves a healthy thriving mother to take care of her & I am determined to be just that. It’s not fair this is happening to her & there’s no way I’m going to let this take me away from her, not now, not this way. 

As my support group is pretty small I’m turning to my friends & community for help. It is going to be a long, tough road, but I know I can do this, especially with the right support. We are going to set up more fundraisers & a Facebook group where  I’ll be posting updates on my journey, and with help & support I know I can beat this.