Help Elise Overcome Cancer!

Wow! In just a few short hours I never expected for so many people to see, share, give, and reach out!!! Thank you soooo very much!!! I realized for those people who are sharing my fundraiser, but may not know me - I’d like to share  a few more details! 

3 years ago, I had just given birth to my third baby, and I was hit with a devastating diagnosis of Triple Negative Breast Cancer. I did everything I could by way of holistic treatments and surgery, which staved the cancer off for a couple of years.... But in November of last year we were blindsided with a diagnosis of Metastatic Breast Cancer. I began this journey when my son was a newborn. My amazing children are now 3, 5, and 7!! I feel so very blessed to have had a couple of really good healthy feeling years with them. But last year everything started to change. 

I’ve had cancer for the past 3 years… but since my cancer spread, in the last 6 months I have been literally fighting for my life. I have come so far, and I’m so excited to share in God’s praises with you, but there is still a very long way to go. I don’t know how I survived January or February. Those were some of my darkest days. I had an amazing support network who channeled all of their energy to help keep me going. It was just enough for me to realize, there has to be more. After my first few months of chemo I had started getting the sparkle back in my eye. I just knew that no matter what, there was more waiting for me. I put on the bravest face I had, and decided there is no way I will settle for chemo every week, multiple rounds of injections at home, and being in so much pain I sleep through 4 days at a time. I was missing out on at least 50% of my waking hours, and begged God to give me a chance for a better life. All Iwant is to be healthy, vibrant, and full of life so I can be the Mom, Wife, and Woman I was destinedto be!! 

 
So, I mustered up all the energy I could on my ‘awake’ days, I began researching, and I built a new team. I found a team of doctors, Naturopaths, Oncologists, and others who continued to believe in my cure and believe in me. I felt that God was telling me that it was now time for me to ‘take an active role in my health’. This has been by far the biggest challenge of my entire lifetime, but I thank God every day that I am being shown a way. I prayed for guidance. I prayed for love. I told God that whatever it was I needed to do, I would DO it, because I am excited to LIVE the life he has in store for me. I’ve got 3 kiddos to help raise, and I can’t let them down! It’s not easy. Sometimes it means just getting through one day, one moment, one breath at a time – but I know I am not in it alone. My husband, my parents, my best friends, my family - they are all 100% behind me. And now I am reaching out to my community in a very big way.
 
After having completed nearly six months of chemotherapy, I decided I needed another PET CT scan. For those of you who do not know, it is a scan that shows how much cancer is actually currently active within your body. In the fall the PET CT scan showed that the breast cancer was very aggressive and had consumed lymph nodes in my armpit, and essentially my entire spine. All of my vertebrae, my ribs, my pelvis, my sternum, my hips, my skull. It was everywhere. It took several months to even get the pain managed. But by the grace of God, the PET scan showed a huge improvement in those areas of cancer!  Hallelujah! The activity of those areas of cancer was way down, which gave us so much hope. Also, my brain scan was clear, which is another miraculous praise! The only problem was that during the time I’d been fighting so hard and had been focusing on clearing my body, my liver had been under complete attack. Nearly my entire liver has been overtaken by new lesions in the liver. My liver is swollen, hard, and extremely painful including referral pain throughout other areas in my body. I've had trips to the ER and many sleepless nights due to pain. I’ve continued all of my natural treatments, breath work/meditation, castor oil and heat pads, and coffee enemas,  and of course the chemotherapy as well. We have been working really hard for nearly a month with diet and supplements – but it’s time to do whatever we can to help increase the odds of healing my liver (and cleaning up the rest of my body!)  
 
It is recommended that I continue weekly chemotherapy until… the cancer is gone. I wasn’t sure I could make it through the first 12 sessions, let alone continuous, ongoing treatment. But the great news is, there are lots of other things I can be doing and I have already started doing to help my body heal. They’ve recommended increasing my weekly IV Vitamin C infusions to multiple times per week. They’ve recommended mistletoe treatments for immune function.  They’ve recommended I change my entire lifestyle to a completely ketogenic diet and track my nutrient intake very precisely. This includes working with a nutritionist who has herself overcome the odds and beat cancer by following this very specific protocol. They’ve recommended a specific nutritional supplement regimen which is enough to fill my belly alone without any food! ;) It is recommended that once I am stable, I will go to New York to have an explant surgery. This is a very well-known, specialized surgeon who is willing to work with Stage 4 cancer patients. We need to clear out a couple of very large necrotic and painful lymph nodes as well as remove the implants that were placed during my original mastectomy. He will also be utilizing a laser technique to complete a full mastectomy of the right side as well. Lastly, it is recommended for me to begin a rigorous Hyperthermia regimen which has been shown to work wonders for killing cancer in the soft tissues of the liver, while causing no harm to healthy tissue. The facility which is in the United States is located down in Santa Monica, so it would involve me traveling back and forth for chemo each week, and staying in California for 6 days a week to receive treatment for 6 weeks. All of this has been quite a lot for our family to process. We have been praying for guidance, love, and support. As you can imagine, the list of things that have been recommended for me to try comes mostly out of pocket. Insurance does not cover many of these costs, and it is beginning to add up very quickly. We would be absolutely honored and so very grateful if anyone was able to support us in any way possible. (Donations, prayers, inspiring words of encouragement, helping with the kids, anything!!) We love and thank you all so much for the continued support you’ve shown us, and we can’t wait to continue with treatment to finally, once and for all, celebrate being cancer free!

**Please, feel free to SHARE this with whomever you can!! It’s such a blessing every time I’ve seen one of my friends share for our cause!!! THANK YOU, and God bless!!!**