Hannah Thompson's Fight Fund

2024 Update from Hannah: Had my most recent scans between the Christmas and New Years holidays. The results show a growing lesion in my sacrum and now a new lesion at the top of my hip bone. There are a few discrepancies I will talk to the doctor about next week related to other bone spots, but for sure I know I have two active and growing. Good news? Nothing still in my liver since my resection and nothing in my lungs or anywhere else. This I am grateful for.

It’s been a very tough couple of months and I know I’ve been way more lax on my diet over the holidays. I’m beyond grateful to my husband, Tory. No matter what, he stands beside me in this diagnosis and has let me lean on him time and time again. My family—you all are what keep me going, and keep me pushing for the future, day by day.

Thank you again to everyone who has given me financial support, prayers, well wishes, check-ins, help with my treatments, and just overall grace. This is such a hard disease to have while trying to live a “normal” life.

Going into this new year, I’m hoping to set myself up for success in realigning my nutrition and exploring some new pathways to make sure what I’m putting in my body continues to promote healing and health.

Love to y’all, cheers to the new year ✨

New blog post: https://hkon016.wordpress.com

Update: About a year ago Hannah began treatments at the Riordan Clinic (a world-renowned academic medical center that has led the world in integrative oncology). After the first 6 months of treatments, she had a check-up with her medical doctor where they found that not only did the cancer not spread but it also was improving, something they expected to be impossible. So everyone’s prayers and the Riordan Clinic treatments were working. Since things were going so well they backed off on the treatments at the Riordan Clinic to be just at a maintenance level. Unfortunately at her annual check-up, they found a few more spots on her spine so she needs to rev up treatments again. In order to do so it will cost her family about $5,000 a month. Everyone’s prayers and support last year really made a huge difference, Hannah would not be where she is today without all of you and we now ask again for your prayers and any financial support you can provide.

You can read more about the last year on Hannah's blog here

Hi, I'm Erin Cawley and I've created this fund for Hannah Thompson, one of my very best friends and college swimming teammate. She is 31 years young, a wonderful stepmother to Kristin and Tyler, and also just wished her son Everett a happy first birthday. Hannah is currently battling stage 4 uveal melanoma with metastasis to her liver and spine. With very limited treatments available for her type of cancer, she was recommended to a naturopathic practice for treatment. Since it is not considered “traditional” treatment, it is not covered by insurance making it a complete out-of-pocket expense. 

We appreciate any support you are able to provide. 

 

Below is her story.

 

 

During August 2017 I received eye surgery to place tantalum rings in my eye as markers for the proton beam radiation I was going to receive. in September I spent a week back in MA with my boyfriend at the time getting daily doses of radiation to my eye. In October that year my sweet sweet boyfriend bought me a golden retriever pupper that we named Grant. In November we bought a house and moved in together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In March of 2018 my parents came down to Austin for the first time together to visit. My boyfriend asked my dad for his blessing in asking me to marry him. For my birthday in April, he got down on one knee and I said yes. My post radiation check ups showed progress this year, and my full body scans to check for metastasis were clear. Life was good.

 

 

 

 

In February 2019 I married the love of my life and became an official step momma to an 8 year old boy and a 12 year old girl. In March I spent a blissful week in Barbados for our honeymoon. In July our scans in MA continued to show regression. In December, there were no signs of metastasis on my CT scans.

 

 

 

March of 2020 brought Covid and with that the challenges of home school, home work, and adjusting to a new mask normal. In June of that year we made the flight (N95s and all) to MA for my checkup and again my tumor had regressed and was nearly flat. In July my husband and I conceived. I spent 3 very long months in bed with my zoom camera off as morning sickness is actually not just the morning. We found out we were having a boy and in December, my family threw us a Zoom baby shower. I didn’t get my metastasis check scans during my pregnancy.

 

 

 

 

In March of 2021 I gave birth to a healthy baby boy we named Everett. The nights were long and the days longer, but we found a rhythm and the sleep started coming more regularly. In July of 2021 my eye checkup was fantastic. In December I got my body scans and in follow up with my oncologist to read the results, was told there was a spot on my liver that was suspicious. We made plans to consult with a surgeon, as the spot was small and anterior, so getting to it through surgery seemed feasible.

 

 

 

 

 

In February of 2022 my husband and I flew with Everett to MA for the laparoscopic surgery. The surgeon was great and came in after the procedure and let me know he removed the spot with clean margins. Initial testing on it was inconclusive, so they sent it off for an official biopsy.

 

 

 

On February 9th (our 3rd wedding anniversary), I made the mistake of checking my patient portal rather than waiting for the dr follow up the next day. The pathology report was in my profile and I read it. The spot on my liver was confirmed metastasis of my uveal melanoma. This automatically put me at stage 4 and ruined any chance we had of a happy anniversary celebration. The next day we met with the oncologist and he walked us through his recommendations. I would get a blood test to see if I was a match for a newly approved FDA drug, Tedtebentafusp

 

, the only specific treatment designed for uveal melanoma. I would also be increasing my scans to every 3 months, starting with a Pet scan in March to confirm no other areas of metastasis. My husband, Tory, asked the oncologist about how nutrition might play a role and the oncologist gave us the response that I should avoid THC based products, probiotic yogurt, but those were the only restrictions he recommended. We left that appointment and started talking more about nutrition.

 

My husband had always been into how lifestyle choices affect one’s health. He had convinced me to switch to all natural toothpaste with no fluoride and deodorant without aluminum. He had consistently tried to make dietary suggestions including supplementation, to which I paid little attention. I ate the standard American diet of meat with every meal, lots of starches, with a little veggies to make the meal complete. With this new diagnosis, I was willing to pull out all the stops, and we committed to radically changing our diet to full plant based nutrition. I’ll share more next post

 

You can read more about Hannah's Journey here: Hannah's Cancer Blog