In Loving Memory of Marcia McCabe

I am organizing this page for my sister Marcia. She is a devoted wife and mother to four beautiful children. She is a homeschool mom who is always doing arts and crafts with her kids or is outdoors enjoying nature with her family. She is also very passionate about teaching her children all about God’s word.

Marcia was recently diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes under her arm. She is currently four months pregnant with baby number five. The pregnancy makes treatment options much more difficult for this aggressive type of cancer. She has chosen the alternative approach and will re-examine her choices once the baby is born. Her doctor informed her that she would need to have the baby at 37 weeks or possibly sooner.

Unfortunately, health insurance doesn’t cover alternative treatments. With only one income, they have to pay out of pocket for her treatments, therapies, supplements, and testing costing tens of thousands of dollars. She also has to travel out of state for treatment.

Any donation amount would be greatly appreciated. It will help pay for her treatments, pay bills, and buy food for her family during this challenging season of life and bring her one step closer to being cancer free. She is a very cherished and beloved part of her family and a caregiver to our 87yr old father, that lives with her. Please pray for her and her family if you can’t make a donation.

Thank you,

Marcie

Update as of 9/24/22

Thank you all for your generous thoughts, prayers, love, and donations for my sister and her family. Marcia was told this week that the triple-negative has progressed into inflammatory breast cancer (rare only 1%-5% of breast cancers). It has spread to the supraclavicular nodes in her neck which is considered distant metatasis and now diagnosed as stage 4. With it being in the supraclavicular region and other lymph nodes, the oncologist is saying surgery and radiation are no longer options.

With bad news, there is also good news. The CT scans did not show it in her lungs, liver, gall bladder, or other organs. She was also able to find out they are having another boy!

She will leave tomorrow for a 3 week's stay outside the US to seek treatment. The hospital uses a combination of all therapies and has some great success stories. It is another large out-of-pocket expense, but she is hopeful they have the resources to help her fight this tough battle.

Thank you all for your continued prayers, love, and support. It means so much to our family.

Update as of 10/13/2022

Marcia has returned from her hospital stay and is enjoying time with her family. It sounded like a great place that offers a lot of support for overall well-being. She had an excellent team of specialists to help and focus on her; an oncologist, hematologist, medical doctor, nutritionist, palliative care doctor, counselor, and a pastor. She received treatments like high-dose vitamin C (HDVC), B17, vitamin K, ozone therapy, and the dendritic vaccine. She will need to wait 3 weeks for the dendritic vaccine to take full effect before starting the variety of supplements, liposomes, and low-dose chemotherapy pills.

For those wondering about the dendritic vaccine, I was wondering too. This is how I understand it, not being in the medical field. They take the patient's blood and harvest the dendritic cells, total serum sialic acid (TSAs), T cells, and natural killer cells (NKs). The various cells are then cultivated, encoded, and activated in their immunology lab. The cells then get injected/infused back into the patient. The dendritic cells target the TSA and direct the T cells and NK cells to attack the tumor.

Thank you all for your continued love, support, and generous donations. They have all been greatly appreciated, and we are so grateful.

11/6/2022

I want to thank everyone for keeping Marcia and her family in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you for the generous donations thus far too. Much appreciated.

Marcia had an in-depth baby ultrasound at the end of October. He measures at the correct weight, his organs and development are normal, and they didn’t see any genetic markers they would be concerned about. It is a blessing to hear that he is doing well.

Marcia has been slowly integrating all of her medication and supplements into her daily routine after her 3-week wait time after receiving the dendritic vaccine.

She had a large area of swollen lymph nodes on her neck/shoulder area that was continuing to grow but has almost disappeared now. The alternative care hospital she continues to be in contact with explains it as an immune-mediated inflammation response at disease sites that slowly clear. This is expected to be the same with her breast. They told her the way the dendritic cell vaccine works is first, it targets the lymph system, then the organs, and lastly, the skin. With it targeting the skin last, all the swelling, redness, and extreme pain in her left breast from inflammatory cancer will take longer to go down/away completely. Along with the extreme pain, some of her medicines have been making her sick to her stomach, making it hard to care for the kids and homeschool. Her husband has had to leave work at times to help so she can rest.

Please continue to pray for her and her family. She still has many weeks before the baby comes (possibly in early February). Her body must continue fighting this horrible cancer and nourishing her growing baby boy. Thank you all again for the prayers and support.

12/15/22

Thank you to everyone for keeping Marcia, the baby, and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

The cancer is causing Marcia so much pain on her left side. The doctors are doing what they can to try and help the pain. Her breast has started to have lesions that are breaking open and bleeding adding to her pain.

The baby is still doing well. I was able to feel him flipping the other day. Please keep praying for him as he still has some time before we all get to meet him. They are currently planning on a C-Section on 2/9/2023. That will be at the 37-week mark. However, with her pain level so extreme, the doctors are talking to see if they can take him sooner. We won't know more for a few weeks.

Please continue to keep Marcia, the baby, and the family in your thoughts and prayers.

Thank you for all the generous donations. Also to those reaching out to help with meals and Christmas gifts for the kids. It means the world to us all.

12/22/22

Marcia had a 5-night stay in the hospital for severe pain and possible skin infection. She was released last night. They were trying hard to get her pain manageable and knock down any infections.

She will do a round of chemo today. We are hopeful this will knock the cancer down a bit and help relieve a bit of her pain.

Thank you again for all the thoughts and prayers. Please keep her in your thoughts today as she undergoes this first treatment before the holidays. She is staying strong!

1/19/2023

Marcia was admitted to the hospital again on Tuesday for extreme pain and possibly skin infection again. After the chemo treatment back on 12/22, her lymphedema got worse in her left arm. The decision was made to deliver the baby tomorrow the 20th.

Please continue to lift her and the baby up in thoughts and prayers for a smooth delivery tomorrow.

Thank you to all who have reached out. I will update again tomorrow evening.

1/20/2023

Baby was born just before 10am. He weighed 5 lbs 2 oz. He does need to be on oxygen and will need to learn how eat through a bottle so he will have a feeding tube for a while.

Marcia is doing well, but is still in a lot of pain from everything.

1/21/2023

Baby was removed from oxygen and is doing really well. Marcia was in a lot of pain with the surgery pain kicking in, but she is managing.

1/22/2023

Baby is still doing great. He got to meet 3 of his 4 siblings today and they all LOVED him. I watched Brycen so they could go visit with mom and baby.

1/23/2023

Marcia is at home now. I picked her up around 2pm today. We went to see baby Colton so she could get some snuggles in with him before heading home. He was under the lights so he wasn't happy about that. He was happy to be swaddled and in his mom's arms. He was content the whole time we were there holding him. They will continue to monitor him and keep working to get him to eat more on his own. He is doing so great though.

Marcia had some areas break open on her breast so she is fighting more of that pain again along with the continued lymphedema and incision pain. Her pain meds help take the edge off, but it can get overwhelming for her at times.

She wants to continue with the alternative treatments. She will be working on figuring out the next steps and the finance piece. That will be difficult with Josh not working for some time now.

Please continue to keep them all in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you again for all the generous donations and messages.

1/28/2023

Baby is continuing to do well. He still has to eat a good percentage of what they require before he can go home. They are estimating the end of this week if all continues to go well. Thank you to the nurses at Children's Hospital for taking such great care of him.

Marcia is still dealing with her pain. Somedays it is worse than others. She is still healing from her c-section as well. She is planning on doing a treatment on Wednesday. Praying all goes well and it helps take some of that horrible pain down.

Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.

2/2/2023

Baby Colton went home today. He is doing well and is still under 5 lbs. A tiny little peanut. He seems like such a mellow little guy. His sisters and brothers were super excited to see him and give him love as were his mom and dad.

Thank you for the continued thoughts and prayers for Marcia and Colton.

2/11/2023

Baby Colton continues to grow and melts everyone's heart that gets to meet him. Marcia chose to use donor breast milk for him so it has been challenging to find donor milk for him. Please keep that in mind if you know anyone willing to donate or help them out as he continues to grow.

Marcia has been healing well from her c-section. Her lymphedema in her arm is still very bad and painful along with her breast. She continues to keep pushing through each day.

Please continue to keep them all in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you for all the donations thus far. It is appreciated.

2/26/2023

Marcia did go through 2 IPT chemo treatments at the beginning of the month at a clinic in Illinois. Her overall pain decreased after the first one, but it returned after the second one. She continues to fight through the pain of the breast and left arm lymphedema. She is deciding if she will try traditional chemo but is fearful it could affect her other arm too. Please keep the prayers and thoughts going for her.

Baby is doing so well and getting bigger each time I see him. He is still a little peanut, but a bigger little peanut!

Thank you for your continued thoughts, prayers, and donations.

3/8/2023

Marcia did try a round of chemo on February 28th locally. We are praying it slows the cancer down, helps her pain, and does not cause any new complications for her.

Her left arm still has extreme lymphedema. She has little to no use of that arm now. It is very painful and she has to continuously keep it wrapped in a certain way to help minimize her pain from the swelling.

Her breast is still so painful and continues to cause her daily issues. She pushes through each day fighting extreme pain as she continues to homeschool and care for her children. I feel so helpless not being able to take her pain away.

The baby will be 7 wks old in a few days! He passed up his original due date of March 2nd. I can't believe that much time has passed since he joined the world. He is growing and eating great. Adorable as can be!

Please continue to keep Marcia and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

Thank you again for your generous donations.

3/11/2023

Marcia has made the tough decision to not do any further chemotherapy treatments at this time. The choice was made to move her to hospice care. Hospice will be able to continue to offer her comfort care to relieve her extreme pain, they offer emotional and spiritual support, at-home visits, and continue to help with any questions that arise.

This has been a tough battle for Marcia and her family.

Please continue to keep her and her family in your prayers.

4/5/2023

Marcia was still fighting the extreme pain the breast cancer and lymphedema is causing. Hospice was out on Monday and adjusted her meds again. She is doing so much better now. With more meds, she will be more confined to her bed now. They can make her more drowsy and unsteady on her feet. That has been hard for her after leading such an active life. It has been very hard for the kids too. They miss the way their mom was and they mention that often.

We are grateful to those that have donating their time to help with the kids (they have a lot of energy!), make meals, etc. It is greatly appreciated and welcomed. Thank you to you all! It helps take a little bit of stress and anxiety off us all so we can help Marcia as her needs will continue to grow.

Please continue to keep Marcia and the family in your prayers and thoughts.

4/22/2023

Marcia is still working through extreme pain. We were warned that this is a very painful cancer and the pain will continue to get worse. Hospice has introduced a new pain med on top of the others she is currently taking. She did choose a catheter a few weeks back. Walking to the bathroom was getting more dangerous for her with the meds and her diseased breast. That has started to break open if she moves certain ways and bleeds profusely. There have been numerous times where they didn't know if they could get it to stop. She has to be extremely careful about any movements now and has chosen to stay in bed. It has been very scary for her on top of everything else.

The cancer has moved up her chest over her shoulder and has moved across her chest attacking her other breast. It is causing her more pain now on that side as it progresses. It has been so horrible to watch this take over and cause her such extreme pain. Why is she having to suffer so much? Her babies have to watch their mom endure this. Her family feels helpless. It is so sad.

She has asked that prayers be focused now on her being free from this pain and moving on to the heavens.

Thank you for the continued donations, prayers, and thoughts. We are truly grateful for the help friends have offered as things get more difficult. Please continue to hold Marcia in your thoughts and help her understand and accept as she prepares for her next journey without us.

5/3/2023

I am sharing some sad news. Marcia gained her angel wings this morning after a strong fight against this horrible cancer. She fought extreme pain for so long. It was so hard to watch. She is at peace now free from pain and with our mom.

We will miss her so much. Please continue to pray for the family, Josh, and her 5 beautiful children as we start a new journey without Marcia here with us. Help us keep her memory alive for her beautiful babies.

Thank you to everyone who helped or reached out during this sad and tough journey.

12/4/2023

It is hard to believe that Marcia left us 7 months ago. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about her and miss her.

Josh and the kids are trudging through making the most of each day. Marcia did a lot with the kids while Josh worked. He has been figuring things out and doing such an amazing job.

The 3 older kids are enjoying school and the two little ones keep growing like weeds! Colton is 10 months already and will be walking soon!!

As we go into the Christmas season it is hard not to look back on this time last year. Thank you to everyone who made last Christmas one to remember.