Dear Family & Friends:

As most of you know already Thavary is in the midst of a healing journey.  One of the most transformitive phases of her life. The diagnosis of  Stage IV Hodgkin's Lymphoma in mid June of this year caught us by suprise. 

Since that moment we have embarked on a path towards better health together. The treatment of Thavary's condition with chemo therapy and the treatment of the chemo therapies effect on Thavary have become the focus of our life. 

I am pleased to announce that we are approaching the half way point of the treatments and all of the progress and testing thus far  show signs of healing and hold great potential for a healthy future.

We are very fortunate to live in a major metropolitan city and be close to great care at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. However, traditional oncology alone while amazingly helpful does not account for the quality of life of the patient.

In order to limit the potential side effects of the chemo therapy such as fatigue, weakened immune system and other not so lovely things we have begun a regiment of Traditional Chinese medicnes including Acupuncture Chi Gung and Chinese herbs.

Learn more here:
http://www.drdeandeng.com/about_us
http://www.tcmworld.org/qigong/

Additionally we have transformed our diet to eliminate most processed food, refined sugar, dairy and white flour. 

Another element of our integrated care involves vitamin suppliments. Some of which came from this lovely book.
http://www.beating-cancer-gently.com

And others came from the lovely doctors and nutritionists at http://www.blockmd.com/about-us

One of the biggest side effects of chemo therapy is it becomes more difficult for your body to absorb nutrients . Providing a vitamin regime beyond what a person without advanced cancer would need is a great way to assist in preventing illness and reducing inflamation.

Inflamation is at the heart of all disease including cancer. Reducing stress through meditiation and yoga is also a part of our practice.

We  share all of this to illustrate that we are not idle passengers on the healthcare train. We are actively seeking out the best care and the most well rounded approach. We are alooking to heal not just cancer but ourselves. Letting this cancer experience be a teacher to us about how to live a healthier life.

Thankfully Thavary has a great insurance plan through her employer, but they are a small non for profit so they have a high deductible. It should also be said they have been very supportive and flexible through all of this. Facets multimedia, Check them out they do great work.  http://www.facets.org 

Unfortunately, not everything that we are doing is being covered by Thavary's insurance provider.

The cost of weekly acupuncture, monthly vitamin suppliments, treatments not covered by insurance and a high deductible add up. While work is abundandt for Dan and we are doing well,  Thavary has had to quit her part time job that was paying grad school bills. 

We have applied for a grant through the leukemia and lymphomasociety https://www.lls.org/support/financial-support/co-pay-assistance-program

We have also applied for payment assistance through Northwestern.

This is to say we are doing all that we can and asking for assistance from any and all that we can. It is not without great hesitation and forethought that we create this  go fund me account. 

We ask that you not give anything that you can not afford to and that you not give if you do not want to. Please know that any donations Thavary receieves will go only to paying medical bills and providing her with the best treatments to soothe her mind and body as she heals.

We arrived at our goal by combining the yearly deductible for Thavary's insurance, the cost of acupuncture weekly and vitamin suppliments monthly for the remainder of her chemo therapy treatments. And then adding her deductible for 2016 and acupuncture bi-weekly and vitamins until her six month post chemo scans.

Lastly, we would like to say that we know there are those in the world dealing with heavier burdens with less support. We send our love and best wishes to all of those souls.

Thank you for your time, love and generosity.

With gratitude:

Thavary + Daniel

To read more about this journey in Thavary's words check out her online journal:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/thavarykrouch