Help with Julie's denied cancer treatment

Hi friends and family, as some of you know, and many of you may not, my beautiful sister-in-law Julie was diagnosed with stage three gallbladder cancer back in June of last year. Sadly, this is incurable cancer. It’s a very rare and aggressive cancer, and unfortunately not a lot is known about treating it. After going through major surgery and a few rounds of chemo, complications arose and Julie was taken off the chemo. Her cancer has now metastasized to her liver, putting her at stage four.

Not giving up, Julie's oncologist performed genetic testing where it was discovered that Julie has a specific gene that is well known to cause breast cancer (which she does not have), but it has also been found to cause gallbladder cancer. There is a targeted treatment that will attack this gene, which can stop the cancer cells from dividing, multiplying and communicating. It is a combination of a monoclonal antibody treatment and chemo. Unfortunately, the FDA has only approved this treatment mainly for breast cancer, even though it has successfully fought GB cancer in other countries for over a decade. It is still deemed experimental in this country, and John's insurance has denied Julie’s possible life-extending treatment. As I said, her cancer is not curable, but this treatment has had successful results in giving patients who initially had a less than six-month prognosis up to at least five more years of life. Julie’s wish is to make it long enough to see both of her kids graduate high school. This family has already lost one amazing soul to cancer, and we are going to fight like hell once again.

Julie’s oncologist will be fighting that denial with the insurance company, but in the meantime, John has decided to pay for her first dose out of pocket, as time is of extreme importance. The family has already been waiting on the insurance company's decision for weeks, only to have the treatment denied. We all know how disgustingly expensive chemotherapy is, but you cannot put a price on someone’s life. After her first dose, John and Julie will go down to the Oasis of Hope Hospital in Tijuana. Their holistic approach to healing the entire body, giving it proper nutrition and strength to fight, has helped and cured many. One of our uncles lived another 30+ years after visiting this facility after being given a terminal diagnosis as well. And yes, this is also a costly treatment.

I know times have been very hard in the last few years with the pandemic, loss of so many friends and family members because of Covid, loss of jobs and homes etc. But today, we are humbly asking for donations. Anything helps. If you are unable to give monetarily, please send prayers, positive energy, good juju or whatever you believe in to my sweet sister-in-law, brother and their family while Julie fights for her life.

Thank you for taking the time to read this