Help Dee Survive & Thrive - Diedra Brooks Lanphear
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We are raising funds for my wife Diedra to continue pursuing alternative treatments against her stage IV metastatic ovarian cancer. These treatments have been and will continue to be instrumental to her survival, but are not covered by health insurance. Dee, as she is known to many, is really struggling right now and has been battling her ovarian cancer and it's recurrences since 2005. Dee is a joyful person who loves and embraces life. Dee is a spiritual person, a person of faith, ever optimistic and cheerful, and always lifts up and lends a hand to others. She is the sweetest person with the sweetest soul I have ever met. People that meet her often comment that she is a ray of sunshine that lights up the room she is in. Dee is a voracious reader and has done much research on her illness and has employed many natural and alternative therapies in addition to conventional medicine. Now she must re-double her efforts as the cancer that has recurred for the fourth time is inoperable, has and will require more and ongoing alternative therapies to shrink and eradicate it.
Dee's first diagnosis and major surgery were at Christmas in 2005. Since conventional chemotherapy and radiation were not proven effective against Dee's particular clear cell cancer, she sought both conventional and alternative treatment at Dr. James Forsythe's integrative oncology practice in Reno, Nevada in 2006. Dee was six years removed from that initial diagnosis, surgery, and treatment, when in early 2012 during her career as an international flight attendant with American Airlines, she became ill in London soon after working a trip from her beloved New York City base. After days of being too ill to travel and being confined to her hotel bed in London, she was finally able to fly as a passenger and return to our home in Durham, North Carolina. Unfortunately, tests revealed the severity of her illness, that being a mass in her abdomen that had perforated her colon and caused an infection and internal bleeding. In March of 2012 after five hours of surgery, the mass and a portion of her colon and small intestine were removed and it was diagnosed as a Stage IV recurrence of her ovarian cancer. Needless to say after a leave of absence she had to medically retire as the cancer precluded her return to flying and working.
She returned to Dr. Forsythe in Reno, we invested in expensive but extensive testing to identify the most effective treatments to her particular cancer and we employed those therapies designed to build her immune system to combat any random cancer cells left behind from the surgery. Unfortunately and more than three years later in the fall of 2015, symptoms and a CT scan revealed a 2nd recurrence of her ovarian cancer in the form of another abdominal mass. Two weeks after receiving and amidst processing this news, Dee slipped and fell breaking her right arm at the shoulder. Dee was incapacitated without the use of her dominant arm for some months while determining the best course of action to deal with this 2nd recurrence.
Having met and befriended members of a foundation for healing from Basel, Switzerland, on our return to New York during our last vacation in May of 2015, Dee pursued the alternative treatment suggested in hopes of building her immune system to fight the cancer and to shrink the mass. She traveled in January of 2016 to a clinic on the Baltic sea in Travemunde, Germany and received three weeks of intensive treatments via the clinic doctor and other members of the healing team. It was also unfortunate that my father, Dee's father-in-law (whom we cared for since the passing of my mother from glioblastoma cancer of the brain in 2006) was diagnosed with terminal lung and bladder cancer shortly thereafter. Our care for him precluded our complete focus on Dee's health, as his surgeries and hospitalizations both preceded and followed Dee's hospitalization and her very complicated and delicate six and a half hours of surgery to remove the mass and more of her bowel in September of 2016. The surgery was performed by Dr. Karyn Stitzenberg of the Lineberger Cancer Center at UNC Medical Center - Chapel Hill.
After my father's passing in 2017, Dee's CT scan just before Thanksgiving in November of last year revealed a new abdominal mass. Dr. Stitzenberg again performed a complicated surgery to remove the mass and a portion of her duodenum and stomach that the tumor had attached to. Unfortunately, Dee had to spend another Christmas in the hospital and a longer recovery time, but we were grateful for another successful surgery.
A CT scan at the end of July this year indicates that another mass has formed and it's proximity to vital organs and vessels precludes surgery. That was a shock but despite being inoperable, Dee as always is steadfast, resolute and optimistic she can beat this and shrink this tumor via alternative treatments. After experiencing severe abdominal pain resulting in a trip to the ER in August, another CT scan showed the mass was growing, compressing her stomach and bowels and causing a partial bowel obstruction. She was admitted to the hospital. Following her release, having already researched and with a trusted friend's recommendation and first hand account of numerous success stories with cancer treatment, Dee went to Bavaria in September for three weeks of intensive treatments and infusions (highlighted by local thermotherapy treatments to the area of the cancer, as described on the clinic's website) with Dr. Alex Weber at the private in-patient clinic for integrative medicine, www.klinik-marinus.com . Dee stayed for the fourth week of treatment as ultrasounds indicated the hyperthermia treatments were arresting the growth of her mass and the clinic provides such a healing environment, as is evidenced by accessing the link to their website above. Dee was too weak to climb stairs when she arrived at the clinic, but by the third week was walking daily on the paths in the meadows around the clinic and was even well enough to do some sight-seeing in nearby Kufstein and Salzburg, Austria at the end of her stay.
Although we bought out Dee's retirement to fund a majority portion of the approximately $24,000 cost of the initial four weeks of treatment at the clinic, we used a credit card to pay the balance upon leaving the clinic after her last day of treatment on October 15th. Many of the clinic's patients return time and again for the beneficial "maintenance" of the treatments. It was like night and day for how Dee looked and felt from arrival to departure from the clinic. We always envisioned her returning at some point next year, but are now considering a return as early as January 7th. After six weeks of renewed vibrancy being home from the clinic, Dee experienced complications, namely acute nausea and vomiting causing pronounced weight loss and weakness. A recent CT scan and cancer markers in her blood work preceding a hospital stay again last month indicated the mass has started to grow again and is further compressing her stomach and bowels. Dee was readmitted to the hospital again last week after renewed nausea and other complications were attributed to hypercalcemia, an elevated level of calcium in her blood.
After treatment for dehydration and the hypercalcemia, Dee was able to keep soft foods and liquids down again and was released from the hospital on Saturday. We are now formulating our plan of attack to stabilize Dee's symptoms and to stop and shrink the mass. By employing the diet and nutrition plans of the likes of Chris Wark and Dr. Schultz, and by pursuing any and every measure of alternative treatments locally, such as vitamin and mineral infusions and ozone therapy, we hope to rebuild Dee's strength to allow a return to the healing environs of the Klinik Marinus am Stein in Germany in the New Year! Hopefully like below, she will be able to play hymns on the piano in the dining room for her fellow patients again in 2019!
Although we have been reluctant to this point to ask for, expect or accept any help other than the continued prayers, well wishes and the positive words of encouragement that lift Dee up...any donations will help to defray some of the costs of the treatments she has already received and perhaps will help Dee to be able to pursue the additional and ongoing alternative treatments she will need moving forward!
Thank you for your encouragement and support of our darling Dee!
May God Bless You! Brad Lanphear
Dee's first diagnosis and major surgery were at Christmas in 2005. Since conventional chemotherapy and radiation were not proven effective against Dee's particular clear cell cancer, she sought both conventional and alternative treatment at Dr. James Forsythe's integrative oncology practice in Reno, Nevada in 2006. Dee was six years removed from that initial diagnosis, surgery, and treatment, when in early 2012 during her career as an international flight attendant with American Airlines, she became ill in London soon after working a trip from her beloved New York City base. After days of being too ill to travel and being confined to her hotel bed in London, she was finally able to fly as a passenger and return to our home in Durham, North Carolina. Unfortunately, tests revealed the severity of her illness, that being a mass in her abdomen that had perforated her colon and caused an infection and internal bleeding. In March of 2012 after five hours of surgery, the mass and a portion of her colon and small intestine were removed and it was diagnosed as a Stage IV recurrence of her ovarian cancer. Needless to say after a leave of absence she had to medically retire as the cancer precluded her return to flying and working.
She returned to Dr. Forsythe in Reno, we invested in expensive but extensive testing to identify the most effective treatments to her particular cancer and we employed those therapies designed to build her immune system to combat any random cancer cells left behind from the surgery. Unfortunately and more than three years later in the fall of 2015, symptoms and a CT scan revealed a 2nd recurrence of her ovarian cancer in the form of another abdominal mass. Two weeks after receiving and amidst processing this news, Dee slipped and fell breaking her right arm at the shoulder. Dee was incapacitated without the use of her dominant arm for some months while determining the best course of action to deal with this 2nd recurrence.
Having met and befriended members of a foundation for healing from Basel, Switzerland, on our return to New York during our last vacation in May of 2015, Dee pursued the alternative treatment suggested in hopes of building her immune system to fight the cancer and to shrink the mass. She traveled in January of 2016 to a clinic on the Baltic sea in Travemunde, Germany and received three weeks of intensive treatments via the clinic doctor and other members of the healing team. It was also unfortunate that my father, Dee's father-in-law (whom we cared for since the passing of my mother from glioblastoma cancer of the brain in 2006) was diagnosed with terminal lung and bladder cancer shortly thereafter. Our care for him precluded our complete focus on Dee's health, as his surgeries and hospitalizations both preceded and followed Dee's hospitalization and her very complicated and delicate six and a half hours of surgery to remove the mass and more of her bowel in September of 2016. The surgery was performed by Dr. Karyn Stitzenberg of the Lineberger Cancer Center at UNC Medical Center - Chapel Hill.
After my father's passing in 2017, Dee's CT scan just before Thanksgiving in November of last year revealed a new abdominal mass. Dr. Stitzenberg again performed a complicated surgery to remove the mass and a portion of her duodenum and stomach that the tumor had attached to. Unfortunately, Dee had to spend another Christmas in the hospital and a longer recovery time, but we were grateful for another successful surgery.
A CT scan at the end of July this year indicates that another mass has formed and it's proximity to vital organs and vessels precludes surgery. That was a shock but despite being inoperable, Dee as always is steadfast, resolute and optimistic she can beat this and shrink this tumor via alternative treatments. After experiencing severe abdominal pain resulting in a trip to the ER in August, another CT scan showed the mass was growing, compressing her stomach and bowels and causing a partial bowel obstruction. She was admitted to the hospital. Following her release, having already researched and with a trusted friend's recommendation and first hand account of numerous success stories with cancer treatment, Dee went to Bavaria in September for three weeks of intensive treatments and infusions (highlighted by local thermotherapy treatments to the area of the cancer, as described on the clinic's website) with Dr. Alex Weber at the private in-patient clinic for integrative medicine, www.klinik-marinus.com . Dee stayed for the fourth week of treatment as ultrasounds indicated the hyperthermia treatments were arresting the growth of her mass and the clinic provides such a healing environment, as is evidenced by accessing the link to their website above. Dee was too weak to climb stairs when she arrived at the clinic, but by the third week was walking daily on the paths in the meadows around the clinic and was even well enough to do some sight-seeing in nearby Kufstein and Salzburg, Austria at the end of her stay.
Although we bought out Dee's retirement to fund a majority portion of the approximately $24,000 cost of the initial four weeks of treatment at the clinic, we used a credit card to pay the balance upon leaving the clinic after her last day of treatment on October 15th. Many of the clinic's patients return time and again for the beneficial "maintenance" of the treatments. It was like night and day for how Dee looked and felt from arrival to departure from the clinic. We always envisioned her returning at some point next year, but are now considering a return as early as January 7th. After six weeks of renewed vibrancy being home from the clinic, Dee experienced complications, namely acute nausea and vomiting causing pronounced weight loss and weakness. A recent CT scan and cancer markers in her blood work preceding a hospital stay again last month indicated the mass has started to grow again and is further compressing her stomach and bowels. Dee was readmitted to the hospital again last week after renewed nausea and other complications were attributed to hypercalcemia, an elevated level of calcium in her blood.
After treatment for dehydration and the hypercalcemia, Dee was able to keep soft foods and liquids down again and was released from the hospital on Saturday. We are now formulating our plan of attack to stabilize Dee's symptoms and to stop and shrink the mass. By employing the diet and nutrition plans of the likes of Chris Wark and Dr. Schultz, and by pursuing any and every measure of alternative treatments locally, such as vitamin and mineral infusions and ozone therapy, we hope to rebuild Dee's strength to allow a return to the healing environs of the Klinik Marinus am Stein in Germany in the New Year! Hopefully like below, she will be able to play hymns on the piano in the dining room for her fellow patients again in 2019!
Although we have been reluctant to this point to ask for, expect or accept any help other than the continued prayers, well wishes and the positive words of encouragement that lift Dee up...any donations will help to defray some of the costs of the treatments she has already received and perhaps will help Dee to be able to pursue the additional and ongoing alternative treatments she will need moving forward!
Thank you for your encouragement and support of our darling Dee!
May God Bless You! Brad Lanphear
Organizer
Brad Lanphear
Organizer
Durham, NC