The Spiro Family Cancer Journey

Dearest Friends & Family,

As many of you know, my most favorite human in the world, my beautiful dad, Mark Spiro has been in a head-to-head battle with Stage 4 Lung Cancer for almost 2 years. After his first chemotherapy treatment in May of 2022, he was admitted into the hospital for sepsis, where he went into a coma-like state for 2 weeks. We prayed for a miracle, and got one. After recuperating in the hospital for 5 weeks we were finally able to take him home and continue treatment. Since my Dad couldn’t walk or take care of himself and was up most of the night in hallucinatory states, my sister and I moved him and my mom into our apartment to give him the around-the-clock care he needs. We set him up in my sister's room, she slept with me in my room, and my mom on our couch. For the last year and a half, all of us have slept under one roof, where we have focused on my dads healing, safety and recovery to a fierce degree.

It’s hard to know how many details to include here, our story has been filled with terrifying moments as well as triumphant miracles. We've been in and out of the hospital too many times to count, had dozens of complications, infections, sepsis twice, kidney injury, delirium, seizures, chemo postponement, unimaginable pain, as well as beautiful, miraculous months of cancer-free bliss. We’ve climbed mountain after mountain, my father has been steadfast, fearlessly fighting for his life, letting no challenge take down his resilient spirit.

One of the chemotherapies my dad desperately needs is Cisplatin, the most popular, most prescribed cancer drug on the market, and there is an international shortage of it. It’s incredibly frustrating, and people are dying because of this shortage. We are having to utilize other modalities to keep the cancer at bay, which we are doing successfully at the moment, but we need help to be able to continue these specialized treatments while also tending to his daily care and appointments.

While we wait for Cisplatin, he’s on a targeted therapy, a parp inhibitor, an immunotherapy, radiation & hyperthermia, off-label pharmaceuticals, and an immense amount of herbs, that our oncologist himself recommends. Our incredible oncologist, Dr. Castro, has many remarkable success stories with this approach. We have an integrative oncologist (not covered by insurance), who works alongside Dr. Castro to dose and source herbs that block my dad's specific cancer pathways. These herbs have been scientifically proven through hundreds of clinical trials to work synergistically with chemo/radiation to enhance response. We are seeing that proof firsthand through my dad's progress, as well as countless others in the cancer community. This modality of my dad's treatment is extremely expensive but invaluable. He just completed 26 days of radiation, and is going on 45 days of hyperthermia. My mom drives him to radiation in Beverly Hills, then to Hyperthermia in Santa Monica, they spend a minimum of 5 hours just driving in the car on a daily basis. My dad’s neck tumors that have come through the skin need specialized, thorough wound cleaning and daily care, also extremely expensive. Making sure he gets his prescriptions (he takes over 50 pills per day) at the right times with the right meals, with the right liquids, spaced out accordingly, is an all-encompassing task, and has been my moms full time job. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, we are at the doctors office for a minimum of 5 hours for blood tests, doctor meetings and treatments. There are other adjuvant treatments we'd love to utilize, but none are covered by insurance and are again, extremely expensive. There is an exciting new drug we are allowed to acquire in Germany, there's high-dose vitamin C, mistletoe injections, photodynamic therapy, and so many others. Every little bit of fighting power helps and we’d love to have the option to use some of these therapies. Every dollar of this fundraiser will be used to support my dads treatments and give him the most cutting edge options we can find and afford.

I have devoted the last 2 years of my life to understanding cancer to the best of my ability, reading dozens of books, looking up any relevant clinical trials I can get my hands on, subscribing to medical literature and research papers, I have devoured it all. One thing that’s clear is that what is available to patients at this time in history, is heartbreakingly inadequate. For Stage 4 in particular, the current standard of care offers little to no hope. Which is why we are taking a rigorous, innovative, integrative approach. Since day one, my dads cancer hasn’t fit into the standard box, but as I’ve met more and more friends in the chemo room, I’ve learned that no one's does. Everyone needs a personalized approach. I hope that in the future, the things we are having to pay out of pocket for, that have taken me so much time, research and discovery, that have kept my dad alive and able to tolerate treatment, will be common essentials for everyone facing this disease.

My dad is eager to heal and live and create and have more precious time on this planet with the ones he loves. Due to his physical pain and bouts with chemo-related encephalopathy, he hasn’t been able to work in over two years. My mom, sister and I, have been doing everything possible to keep us financially afloat while also being full-time caregivers. It’s been next to impossible. We have been blessed by a few angles who have helped us make it this far, but we have reached a place where we are no longer able to both take care of him to the degree he needs, and also financially afford these treatments. This journey has been life-sweeping. Everything but my dad's healing has fallen to the wayside and we have invested every dollar into it. It’s been an honor to care for him, to be by his side at every single doctor's appointment, every single day at the hospital, wherever he is, we are there. The experience has changed our family for the rest of our lives and we hope with the help of our loved ones, we can continue supporting our dad on the path to vibrant healing.

We love you and cherish you for being there for our family during this time. Please feel free to reach out with any questions, thoughts, suggestions. With love xoxo