Help us get Marina the best treatment

Dear friends,

My name is Marina. I am 33 years old and live in Ibiza with Asaf, my beloved husband. I am a fashion designer, as some of you may know.

At the beginning of July, I didn’t feel good. I had severe belly pain, so I went to the emergency of a private hospital. They checked me and told me I must come the next day to see the gynecologist. The gynecologist made an ultrasound and said that there was a tumor on the outside of my uterus and that we must do MRI, CT and blood test to see how big it was and what it was exactly.

A few days later, on the 5th of July, the same doctor told me that this might be cancer with the size of 10x12 cm and that they must take everything out.

My husband and I were in shock. They also told us they could not do anything more for me and that I must go to the public hospital. Our private insurance refused to cover the costs of the private hospital, saying that we are not long enough clients (we started this private insurance in April 2022, without knowing that we would need it so quickly). The cost of these first tests was 1,091€, which we had to pay ourselves.

The same day we went to the emergency of the public hospital. Finally, after 8 hours of waiting, they checked me, made blood and urine tests, did an X-Ray and told me to come the next day to see a gynecologist.

The gynecologist made another ultrasound and told me they must do a biopsy to be sure about what it was. He said that he would try to make an appointment as soon as possible because it is very urgent and that they would put me in 1st priority.

Only ten days later, I got an appointment for this surgery.

In the meantime, my belly started to swell up. After one week, I looked as if I was eight months pregnant. My body weight grew from usually 55kg to almost 65kg. My body could not drain out the liquids anymore. I felt very uncomfortable, couldn’t sleep, had extreme back pain, had no appetite and felt tired and weak.

On Friday 8th of July, a friend said, "Let’s call an ambulance; this is not good." The ambulance took my friend and me to the public hospital, where they were supposed to know my case and have all the necessary data. We waited six hours in the emergency, and finally, they gave me Paracetamol and sent me home. I didn’t see any doctor.

I was devastated, confused, really sad and full of fear. What was going on in my body? Why did they send me home with Paracetamol and this huge belly? That weekend I felt worse and worse.

On Monday morning, I had an appointment with the family doctor in the town where I live. When she saw me, she was shocked and said she would send me an ambulance and a letter saying 1st priority and emergency, to drain the liquid out of my belly.

Arriving at the hospital, they put me in a bed in the emergency, gave me some strong painkillers and as I was so exhausted, I fell asleep for four hours. My friend Suzu, who again came with me, went every half hour to ask for a doctor to come to check me, but, in the seven hours that she was there, nobody came in.

Only after I called another friend, who knows a doctor in this hospital and told him about my situation, did a young gynecologist come, and they brought me up to the gynecology department. At 23:20, they decided to “try” to drain my belly. I say try because the young doctor wasn’t sure she could do it, so I had to tell her, DO IT! After 1 hour, they drained 2.5 liters of liquid, and my belly was still swollen. So the next day, they sent me home.

A few days later, they did the biopsy. Still, until that day, there was no actual diagnosis.

The result of the biopsy was very hard. Cancer outside of my uterus, my ovaries and metastases on my intestine.

In the meantime, another friend made an appointment for me in the Clínica Universidad de Navarra in Madrid, where I am now. It is one of the best private clinics in Spain.

Last week I came here for the first time with my friend Lena to meet the gynecologist and oncologist. They did a specialized CT, which cost 3,350€, to be paid again by ourselves, because the private insurance still refused to pay any costs.

Back in Ibiza, the CUN (Clínica Universidad de Navarra) asked for the ‘Bloque de Parafina’ with the tissues of the biopsy from the public hospital. They handed us this bloque, saying they were sorry, but it is empty, and there are only some slides with biomaterial left, which they can give us. The CUN told me that this is not enough for them and that we must do another biopsy. That’s why I am here now. I am hospitalized and under control.

With this new biopsy, they can also check if my cancer has a genetic reason, as my grandmother and mother both died of cancer when I was only ten years old.

If my cancer is genetic, they want to put me under a clinical trial, which means I will participate in a cohort-studies of a new kind of chemotherapy. The pharmaceutical company of this medicament will cover the costs of this therapy, BUT we must pay ourselves for all the necessary surgeries and stay in the hospital. The estimated cost for all the surgeries and hospitalization is currently around 50,000€. However, we know this can quickly become much more because we must also fly here, stay in a hotel, get a nurse to support Marina at home, extra medication, recovery therapies etc.

We like to ask all of you to help me/us in this process to get the best result for my battle against this cancer.

Any donation will help and is highly appreciated. Thank you so much. Sending love to all of you in the name of my husband Asaf and my ‘team’ of friends, who are supporting us physically, spiritually and emotionally.

Marina