My Sister Julie's Story
A few years ago Julie didn’t feel right. She went to doctors many times over the course of a year and was told: You are healthy as a horse; stop worrying. She tried, but continued to feel worse; she returned to the doctor who finally felt lumps in her abdomen. It was presumed to be cancer, and so Julie went to Oahu for surgery.
The cancer was there; it was a deadly, rare form of appendix cancer. The doctors informed her there was no cure and available treatments would just buy a little time; she just needed to accept dying. Julie may not be as “healthy as a horse” but she is as “stubborn as a mule” and refused to accept “just quietly dying” as a reasonable option.
Being an investigative scientist came in very handy as Julie researched cutting-edge treatments available in the USA. She found such a treatment in Baltimore, and after a 2nd mortgage on the house, off she went for massive abdominal surgery and an internal heated chemo treatment that is grueling, but can save patients previously considered terminal. After the treatment Julie returned to Maui to receive regular chemo. Upon her return she also jumped right back into work, continuing to run Maui’s Crime Lab solo as she had for the past twelve years. To her credit, the surgery she received in Baltimore is now most likely to be covered by health insurance companies in Hawaii and is being offered to patients with related cancers.
Although her treatments dramatically reduced her tumor load, the cancer is still present in Julie After two years in remission, the cancer is once again on the move. As she endures another round of chemo with decreasing effectiveness, she has continued to research treatment options offered globally. Cancer researchers in Sweden have developed a treatment using one’s own immune cells to kill the cancer cells and are having very high survival rates with otherwise fatal cancers. Hopefully, clinical trials in the USA will start in the future, but Julie doesn’t have the luxury of time!
With the support of her family, the kokua of Maui citizens, and help from her mainland friends, Julie can go to Sweden and undergo their lifesaving surgery and lymph cell propagation and transfusion. By helping Julie, you may be helping countless others by speeding up the process of getting this advanced and promising treatment to the USA. As Julie puts it “it is time for this scientist to become the Guinea Pig!”
Donations and more information can be found at
http://www.mauigateway.com/~jgwood/Hope.htm
The cancer was there; it was a deadly, rare form of appendix cancer. The doctors informed her there was no cure and available treatments would just buy a little time; she just needed to accept dying. Julie may not be as “healthy as a horse” but she is as “stubborn as a mule” and refused to accept “just quietly dying” as a reasonable option.
Being an investigative scientist came in very handy as Julie researched cutting-edge treatments available in the USA. She found such a treatment in Baltimore, and after a 2nd mortgage on the house, off she went for massive abdominal surgery and an internal heated chemo treatment that is grueling, but can save patients previously considered terminal. After the treatment Julie returned to Maui to receive regular chemo. Upon her return she also jumped right back into work, continuing to run Maui’s Crime Lab solo as she had for the past twelve years. To her credit, the surgery she received in Baltimore is now most likely to be covered by health insurance companies in Hawaii and is being offered to patients with related cancers.
Although her treatments dramatically reduced her tumor load, the cancer is still present in Julie After two years in remission, the cancer is once again on the move. As she endures another round of chemo with decreasing effectiveness, she has continued to research treatment options offered globally. Cancer researchers in Sweden have developed a treatment using one’s own immune cells to kill the cancer cells and are having very high survival rates with otherwise fatal cancers. Hopefully, clinical trials in the USA will start in the future, but Julie doesn’t have the luxury of time!
With the support of her family, the kokua of Maui citizens, and help from her mainland friends, Julie can go to Sweden and undergo their lifesaving surgery and lymph cell propagation and transfusion. By helping Julie, you may be helping countless others by speeding up the process of getting this advanced and promising treatment to the USA. As Julie puts it “it is time for this scientist to become the Guinea Pig!”
Donations and more information can be found at
http://www.mauigateway.com/~jgwood/Hope.htm