Julia's Cancer Battle & the Coe Family's Ongoing Saga

ORIGINAL POST FROM FEBRUARY 2023 (read below this article for more recent updates):

In October 2021, life and ministry were moving along for our family, the Coes, as we served the Lord in Israel.

In September 2021, Josiah, our 4th-born child, was born. The other three children -- Olivia, Naomi, and Micaiah -- were acclimating well to their new school environments and enjoying extracurricular activities. I (Dan) was enjoying my work, developing great relationships with colleagues and others in the community, and was excited about the future! Little did any of us know what awaited us on one fateful day in late October 2021!

I recall sitting on my front porch steps, talking with a dear friend about some ministry concerns, when Julia summoned me inside the house to share a report from a phone call she had just received from her Arab-Israeli doctor. Doctor S., who just five days prior had directed Julia to undergo a biopsy for a lump she had discovered on her breast, had called to request Julia's presence in his office. When I heard this, my heart fell to my stomach and I thought, "Why is he calling so soon?" I may, however, have already known -- at least I suspected -- the answer to my question.

We arrived at the medical center with our newborn baby in tow, entered the lobby and observed pink ribbons all around us to commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. "Surely, surely," I thought, "That is not going to be our story. Julia, with breast cancer? No way!" I tried convincing myself. Within a few minutes, we were ushered into Dr. S.'s office where he proceeded to inform us that, indeed, the biopsy results revealed that Julia's tumor was malignant.

Within six days of receiving that diagnosis, our family of six was on board our United Airlines flight en route to Nashville, where Julia was soon to begin undergoing cancer treatments. It was as if the Lord had moved heaven and earth to get us on that flight, somehow providing Josiah with an emergency passport despite a notoriously backlogged American Consulate in Tel Aviv! The Lord was faithful to get us on that plane, and then, upon our arrival in Tennessee, He surrounded us with overwhelming support from friends and family.

In November of 2021, Julia began undergoing her first regimen of chemotherapy at Vanderbilt in Nashville. That first round of treatments lasted five months. Throughout that time, we were hopeful that the medicine was working. We were confident that we'd be making our return to our service overseas once those treatments, and the subsequent steps of surgery and radiation, were complete. That, after all, would be a "textbook" cancer case, and why should our case be any different?

To our shock and initial dismay, in April 2022 another phone call, from another doctor -- this time from a surgical oncologist at Vanderbilt -- revealed that Julia's case was not "textbook." Once that first chemo regimen was complete, Julia underwent an MRI procedure that showed a considered increase in the "burden of disease." In other words, instead of cancer disappearing, it had grown since November.

Julia was rushed to the O.R. just a few days later and underwent a radical mastectomy on May 4, 2022. The same surgeon who had called a few days earlier found me in the waiting room after the nearly 3-hour operation. She spoke privately with me and informed me that, to her disappointment, she was not able to remove all of the cancer cells at the time of the operation. The medical team would need to await the pathological findings from surgery before we knew what our next steps would be.

Those findings came back in late May, at which time our Medical Oncologist ordered Julia to begin receiving another round of chemotherapy treatments. This was due to the discovery of a 60% growth of cancer since Julia's diagnosis, as well as that of a new, more aggressive cancer biology than what had been originally biopsied. Furthermore, of the 30 lymph nodes removed from her right armpit, 25 were cancerous. Whereas she had been clinically diagnosed at Stage 2 upon our arrival stateside in Fall 2021, by Summer 2022 they were classifying Julia as having Stage 3 Breast Cancer.

Summer 2022 was rough. The chemo was harsh on Julia's body, and she was exhausted, physically and emotionally. But, surely the chemo would work this time, wouldn't it? Lo and behold, near the completion of Chemo Round 2, in September 2022, right before our 11th wedding anniversary, my wife detected a growth in the area of her surgical scar. That spot was biopsied and, on our anniversary day, September 24, the surgeon called to explain the findings. Cancer, again! The decision of the doctors? Chemo, again!

Since October 31, 2022, Julia has been receiving her third drug cocktail, infused every three weeks into her veins, to combat this cancer. We've had setbacks even since then, but I'll spare all of those details for now. As things stand, pending no more setbacks, Julia could begin undergoing radiation treatment at ProVision Proton Therapy in Franklin, TN, shortly.

In the meanwhile -- and this is where you all come in -- Julia and I, after prayerful consideration and counsel with many, many wise brothers and sisters, as well as with medical professionals, have decided to adopt an "integrative" approach to combatting this cancer. That simply means that we're tackling this monster using both conventional medicine as well as non-conventional, holistic approaches. We have also enlisted a doctor, Dr. D. with Tennessee Oncology -- himself an Integrative Oncologist -- as the newest medical warrior in this battle. Dr. D. has been tremendously helpful.

However, this is a costly endeavor. Without the full-fledged support of the broader medical and pharmaceutical community, a considerable amount of these non-conventional approaches are not covered by our insurance provider. Those expenses range from lab work, treatments, at-home medical equipment, supplements and healthier "whole" foods, to travel expenses, childcare during our medical appointments and much, much more. I've begun to recently keep a spreadsheet of all medical-related expenses, and within a couple of weeks, our out-of-pocket costs exceeded $4,500. And we've just gotten started down this road.

Friends, we know that the Lord is faithful to provide. We've been reluctant to ask for anything. But we've seen the handwriting on the wall, and we have recently felt led to open up this GoFundMe to invite you, our dear friends and supporters, to partner with us -- really, to partner with God -- on this journey toward Julia's healing.

So, more than an ask, this is just that -- an invitation. Many of you reading this will have already been supporting us, in one way or another, for years. We are thankful for you. Others of you may not know us from Adam, but you have now heard our story (or a portion of it, anyway). Whatever our relationship, I want to invite you to join me, to join Julia and our kids, and to join God knows how many others as we fight together until the day we all see Julia cancer-free!

I'll close with these words of Holy Scripture that have been a source of great encouragement and hope for our family over these past 17 or so months:

And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.

Exodus 14:13–14

We know the Lord is fighting for us. And we trust that He'll triumph over this cancer just as He triumphed over that agent of death, Pharoah, in the days of Moses. Our prayer is that this cancer that we see today -- seen on MRIs and CTs, etc. -- will one day soon be gone, never to be seen again. Join us in that prayer.

Gratefully in His Grip,

Dan and Julia