Terry Williams treatment campaign

Eight weeks ago, Terry had a terrible earache, for which he recieved two courses of antibiotics.  On Thanksgiving day, the pain became intolerable.

We went to the emergency room where a CAT scan was given.  The scan revealed a 2.23 cm mass that encompassed his parotid (salivary) gland.  We found one of the nation's leading head/neck surgeons at Mayo Clinic, and felt like we had a great plan to remove the mass with limited side effects before the Christmas holiday.

Erring on the side of caution, our surgeon recommended a PET scan before surgery, and Terry and I were completely blindsided to learn that the mass was not only malignant, but it had metastacized distantly into his lymph nodes and lungs.  Stage IV Adenocarcinoma, originating in the parotid gland. 

Our prognosis has been  less than stellar, and a dear friend of ours referred us to a cancer treatment center specializing in alternative therapies called Issels Integrative Oncology.  They have centers in San Diego and Santa Barbara, but the immunotherapy treatment must occur in Tijuana, Mexico. 

Before you roll your eyes, understand that Terry is asymptomatic other than some facial paralysis and pain.  He is a healthy, vibrant young man.  He has two young children.  We believe in the body's amazing ability to heal itself.    After much research, we have decided to put our faith in Issels and embrace their philosophy of healing.  

As such, it is crucial that we do this therapy while his body is strong and his immune system is as healthy as possible.  In short, this is the moment. 

Issels will build a vaccine from Terry's own blood.  There are four intensive immunotherapy treatments that will not be comfortable, nor will they be toxic.   

We have done our due diligence with the finest medical minds around.  It simply makes sense to us to employ natural (but aggressive) therapies that do not poison him - at least initially.   

Terry just finished his last 'quad shot' radiation treatment, which he did not tolerate as well as we'd hoped.  If radiation made him feel so very sick, what does that say about chemo treatments - both of which are said to 'improve his quality of life', but not to extend it?  

Unacceptable.  Impossible.  Scary.  

Treatment at Issels will last three to four weeks, and cost  roughly $31,000.   We plan to do this treatment and return to AZ for an intense chemotherapy regimen of either Cisplatin/Vinorelbine or Eribulin.  At the end of the day (and to the chagrin of our medical teams) we don't care which approach has the greatest efficacy... as long as one of these treatments works. 

Terry has never asked anyone for anything.  We are asking now.  This is the man I've waited for all my life, and so many of you love him dearly.  Thank you so much for the outpouring of loving sentiment we've received.  We have chosen  to step outside the bounds of traditional medicine because that is literally our best option.  If you can help, please do.  He is the bravest man I've ever known.

..And he is totally worth it.