Vivian Nelson's Cancer Clinical Trial

My wife, Vivian, was diagnosed in November of 2016 with stage 4 colon cancer. She underwent surgery, then began chemotherapy immediately. Over the course of a few years, five different chemo therapy regimens have been tried, each one ended as symptoms escalated and the medicine quit working. Unfortunately the last chemotherapy had no effect at all and her tumors and lesions grew. After an extended weekend of bloodwork, scans, and interviews, the doctors have found a stage one clinical trial at MD Anderson that is our best hope for treatment until the trial moves forward or a new trial comes out. We are very fortunate that Vivian is a US Army veteran, which means that her medical costs are covered, but the ancillary costs are such that without help we will be unable to pursue this option. The trial treatments are every week in Houston but we live in San Antonio which is approximately three hundred miles each way. The trial is a two week schedule of a four day week of visits followed by a single over night the following week. We have done our research and discovered that for the four days we should take a bus to Houston which will save us money on gas, upkeep for the car, and parking, which even at the hotels is expensive. This means we need a hotel within walking distance, which is only marginally more expensive than ones miles away which would require both more gas and parking at the hospital which is $15 per visit, with no in and out, which is cost prohibitive for allowing Vivian to rest between treatments and doctors visits. The cost of food in Houston is also more, although we can bring some food with us. On the other week we can drive in and stay at a hotel for a reasonable rate because there will only be one appointment before we can leave. We have estimated the cost for this over the course of a year of treatment, which counts on our hopes that this trial will be successful. Thank you for your support.