Sonja's Beat Cancer Fund (US$)
Donation protected
These photos capture the true essence of my sister Sonja Granskou. Defiant and exceptionally determined, she is "climbing the mountain" in her fight to beat cancer. She is a compassionate and spirited person who had to quit the job she loved helping others as a licensed psychotherapist in Boston to fight this. In December 2014 at age 51, and six months after meeting Dennis (the love of her life), Sonja was struck with stage-four ovarian cancer that had spread. And to add to her incredible struggle, she faced an extremely rare and crippling, cancer-induced, autoimmune disease called dermatomyositis.
Sonja spent almost six months in the hospital. She couldn't walk, speak well or even swallow for over 100 days, even her own saliva. After her intra-abdominal surgery and ten months of chemotherapy she started to improve. We all cried with joy when her doctors thought she was in remission, but four months later her cancer returned. Her oncologist put her back on chemo, but this time it wasn’t working. By spring of 2016 we were all scared as we helplessly watched her test results and symptoms worsen.
Inspired by many stories of people who have healed from advanced cancer and have been cancer free for decades, Sonja did extensive evidence-based research and consulted with top doctors and experts in conventional, alternative and integrative treatments. Sonja was advised to do live cell tests at an acclaimed oncology lab in California in order to find the right combination of chemo drugs that would kill her specific cancer cells. Unfortunately, these tests were not covered by her health insurance so her boyfriend found a way to finance it. A new chemo protocol was implemented, which slowly started to reduce her cancer markers, but she was far from being out of the woods.
Many experts, including her Harvard-trained oncologist, strongly recommended a treatment regime built around immunotherapy drugs which are at the forefront of cancer research and treatment worldwide. These drugs and therapies boost the immune system, which is ultimately what fights cancer and leads to stable remission. Cancer cells become increasingly resistant to chemo drugs over time and they stop working. Furthermore, chemotherapy does not kill the cancer’s original stem cells, only the daughter cells, which is why cancer often returns.
Sonja faced yet another obstacle. Due to her recent autoimmune diagnosis, her oncologist said she was ineligible for immunotherapy clinical trials in the United States and urged her to seek immunotherapy elsewhere. He said more chemo would "only buy Sonja a little time", not put her into a complete full remission or cure her. He said he could not predict how long she would live without intensive immunotherapy.
This all brought Sonja to Austria, where she spent five weeks last summer under the care of Dr. Ralf Kleef MD in Vienna at his Immunotherapy and Integrative Oncology Clinic. He is highly respected world-wide as a leader in cancer immunology. Unfortunately his cutting-edge cancer treatments and medications are expensive and not covered by American health insurance. There Sonja received his powerful immune-boosting drug protocols, potent anti-cancer and immune-enhancing treatments and supplements, as well as low-dose chemotherapy with hyperthermia heat treatments that have been used in Europe for decades. Extensive medical research has shown that the efficacy of chemo and hyperthermia is greatly enhanced when given together. 
Dr. Kleef's unique, less-toxic immunotherapy cancer treatments have had an extremely high success rate, especially in the last few years. Many of his stage-four cancer patients like Sonja have gone into complete remission — amazing their own doctors — after being given only months to live. Sonja even met a former patient of his who had the same cancer diagnosis as her who has been cancer free for a decade.
Sonja dramatically improved while in Vienna, but her treatment regime is far from over. Dr. Kleef has decades of experience and was forthright that one five-week round of treatments there would not be enough for her advanced cancer. Several more are essential for her survival. Her cancer-marker and immune blood tests were continuing to improve this fall while on his aftercare meds, supplements and treatments in Boston, most of which are not covered by her insurance. However, her cancer markers are starting to rise again so she urgently needs to return to Vienna for her second round of treatments as soon as possible if she is going to win the battle.
But Sonja can’t return to Vienna now because she does not have the funds. She hasn’t been able to work for nearly two years and has exhausted all her life’s and retirement savings fighting cancer. A few friends, her boyfriend and family members have stretched all they can to get her this far. This is why we are now raising the funds she needs for Dr. Kleef’s continued treatment in Vienna. She needs to go back two more times followed by aftercare treatments in Boston, most of which are not covered by her health insurance.
Sonja has always been very independent and giving, but she is learning to humbly accept help from others with grace and heartfelt gratitude. So THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for all who have and will now be helping Sonja, either through donations and/or sharing this link with others on Facebook, other social media and through emails. With all your support and prayers she can beat this! Sonja, her family, friends and boyfriend all send their deepest gratitude and appreciation.
A bit more about Sonja. Music, mountains and nature are her first loves. She has a Masters in Music in opera performance and later studied music therapy and clinical psychology in graduate school. She can't wait to get better and go back to work helping others as a psychotherapist. She believes the silver lining about cancer is that life and people become so much more beautiful and precious. Through the darkest months of her life when she was in the hospital in excruciating pain and fear, Sonja said "my compassion for humanity and the world has deepened to the core of my being. I know now, without a doubt, that we are all connected by a luminous spirit of light and unconditional love.”
Please note: All donations are in US dollars.
Sonja spent almost six months in the hospital. She couldn't walk, speak well or even swallow for over 100 days, even her own saliva. After her intra-abdominal surgery and ten months of chemotherapy she started to improve. We all cried with joy when her doctors thought she was in remission, but four months later her cancer returned. Her oncologist put her back on chemo, but this time it wasn’t working. By spring of 2016 we were all scared as we helplessly watched her test results and symptoms worsen.Inspired by many stories of people who have healed from advanced cancer and have been cancer free for decades, Sonja did extensive evidence-based research and consulted with top doctors and experts in conventional, alternative and integrative treatments. Sonja was advised to do live cell tests at an acclaimed oncology lab in California in order to find the right combination of chemo drugs that would kill her specific cancer cells. Unfortunately, these tests were not covered by her health insurance so her boyfriend found a way to finance it. A new chemo protocol was implemented, which slowly started to reduce her cancer markers, but she was far from being out of the woods.
Many experts, including her Harvard-trained oncologist, strongly recommended a treatment regime built around immunotherapy drugs which are at the forefront of cancer research and treatment worldwide. These drugs and therapies boost the immune system, which is ultimately what fights cancer and leads to stable remission. Cancer cells become increasingly resistant to chemo drugs over time and they stop working. Furthermore, chemotherapy does not kill the cancer’s original stem cells, only the daughter cells, which is why cancer often returns. Sonja faced yet another obstacle. Due to her recent autoimmune diagnosis, her oncologist said she was ineligible for immunotherapy clinical trials in the United States and urged her to seek immunotherapy elsewhere. He said more chemo would "only buy Sonja a little time", not put her into a complete full remission or cure her. He said he could not predict how long she would live without intensive immunotherapy.
This all brought Sonja to Austria, where she spent five weeks last summer under the care of Dr. Ralf Kleef MD in Vienna at his Immunotherapy and Integrative Oncology Clinic. He is highly respected world-wide as a leader in cancer immunology. Unfortunately his cutting-edge cancer treatments and medications are expensive and not covered by American health insurance. There Sonja received his powerful immune-boosting drug protocols, potent anti-cancer and immune-enhancing treatments and supplements, as well as low-dose chemotherapy with hyperthermia heat treatments that have been used in Europe for decades. Extensive medical research has shown that the efficacy of chemo and hyperthermia is greatly enhanced when given together. Dr. Kleef's unique, less-toxic immunotherapy cancer treatments have had an extremely high success rate, especially in the last few years. Many of his stage-four cancer patients like Sonja have gone into complete remission — amazing their own doctors — after being given only months to live. Sonja even met a former patient of his who had the same cancer diagnosis as her who has been cancer free for a decade.Sonja dramatically improved while in Vienna, but her treatment regime is far from over. Dr. Kleef has decades of experience and was forthright that one five-week round of treatments there would not be enough for her advanced cancer. Several more are essential for her survival. Her cancer-marker and immune blood tests were continuing to improve this fall while on his aftercare meds, supplements and treatments in Boston, most of which are not covered by her insurance. However, her cancer markers are starting to rise again so she urgently needs to return to Vienna for her second round of treatments as soon as possible if she is going to win the battle.
But Sonja can’t return to Vienna now because she does not have the funds. She hasn’t been able to work for nearly two years and has exhausted all her life’s and retirement savings fighting cancer. A few friends, her boyfriend and family members have stretched all they can to get her this far. This is why we are now raising the funds she needs for Dr. Kleef’s continued treatment in Vienna. She needs to go back two more times followed by aftercare treatments in Boston, most of which are not covered by her health insurance.
Sonja has always been very independent and giving, but she is learning to humbly accept help from others with grace and heartfelt gratitude. So THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for all who have and will now be helping Sonja, either through donations and/or sharing this link with others on Facebook, other social media and through emails. With all your support and prayers she can beat this! Sonja, her family, friends and boyfriend all send their deepest gratitude and appreciation.
A bit more about Sonja. Music, mountains and nature are her first loves. She has a Masters in Music in opera performance and later studied music therapy and clinical psychology in graduate school. She can't wait to get better and go back to work helping others as a psychotherapist. She believes the silver lining about cancer is that life and people become so much more beautiful and precious. Through the darkest months of her life when she was in the hospital in excruciating pain and fear, Sonja said "my compassion for humanity and the world has deepened to the core of my being. I know now, without a doubt, that we are all connected by a luminous spirit of light and unconditional love.”
Please note: All donations are in US dollars.
Organizer
Sonja Granskou
Organizer
Arlington, MA
