Joyce W's Very Rare Cancer Fund

Hi - my name is Kathy Johnson and I wrote this to help Joyce and her husband out with this very, very rare cancer she has.  Without donations Joyce will not be able to get the treatment she needs and willl only have maybe 3-5 years left to live. She has been lucky enough to get in to see one of the 5 top Specialists in the WORLD that works with this rare type of Cancer (Carcinoid/NET Cancer - NET = neuroendocrine tumor or carcinoid cancer) but it will be extremely expensive and time consuming. Please read my write up and donate if you possibly can and also share this with everyone you know.  I know your support will mean the world to Joyce and her family. And to me also. 

“Original, One of a Kind, and Creative”. These are all words that describe Joyce Wagner. She has never been one to give up or waste time. I have known Joyce for over 35 years. She has always had spunk and not been one to hold back or give up. So when she started feeling bad approximately 10 years ago and could not get an answer to why, she did not give up until she found out why…. CANCER. Her family’s funds have been depleted thru those 10 years of misdiagnoses and medications that did not help. Unfortunately, this is how this type of cancer works and it not unusual for it take 10 years to reach a diagnosis. She has been through a horrible automobile accident, faced family adversity, many other medical issues and now she is facing CARCINOID/NET CANCER. She prays she will pull through it but she needs help to get the specialists and the necessary treatment not to mention the funds to keep a roof over their head and a vehicle and the monthly and day to day expenses that go with this type of situation.

Even when Joyce could not work due to her disability she began scrapbooking as a hobby which led to a business. She opened an online scrapbook store, held crops at her home, worked for other stores and companies doing layouts, and she traveled to trade shows for supplies and participated in craft shows when her health allowed. Her store was Scrap This! And she even worked for one of the larger companies in the scrapbook world, Creative Imaginations. When she could no longer do the scrapbooking jobs she loved, her love for nature led to another hobby of birdwatching and photography. The birdwatching eventually led to she and her husband making their yard a **National Registered Habitat. Due to her medically handicapping conditions of Fibromyalia, a pinched sciatic nerve for which she has a pain stimulator inserted inside her body, a fused foot and ankle which does not move, bulging discs in her neck that case severe migraines that she gets cervical facet injections for, and so many symptoms such dizzy spells and passing out from the Cancer, she is not able to do the birding and photography alone as she is no longer able to drive, she relies on her husband, Mike to transport her around to the many locations. If fact, Joyce is not able to do hardy any of the everyday things people take for granted at this point. She relies on Mike (her husband) for almost everything.

Mike is the sole money maker for the family and he is the one who has to transport Joyce to all her medical appointments, grocery store, and any treatments she will have to have in and out of Michigan. Her first appointment in Iowa will start on June 2, 2016. The type of Cancer Joyce has is so rare that there only five specialists that treat this type of cancer and this cancer only. None of them are in the same town that Joyce lives in so if Joyce is selected to be a patient for treatment. Mike and Joyce will be traveling overnight for appointments and treatments that are yet to be determined. Unfortunately, the Specialist they are hoping to get into is located in Iowa is a 4-5 hour trip each way. This does not include all the appointments she also has here in Michigan, which are between ½ - 1 hour each way from home. Since Mike is the breadwinner of the family when he does not work he DOES NOT get paid. This type of treatment is not covered under his insurance so YES, Joyce wants to live! Only God knows what lies ahead for Joyce, but through persistence, and the specialists Joyce has found she hopes for a cure and asks for prayers for the doctors and the grace of healing.

Joyce would also like everyone to know that any money that is raised and ends up not being needed will be donated for Carcinoid/NET Cancer Research.