Hi Everybody--This is Greg again.

Through the support and hard work of so many friends, we have a reliable way to get Nikki outside and going to our children's activities!!!  It is amazing to experience the love that all of you have given to our family.  I am so thankful that you are in our lives.

We now have a ramp, so we can wheel Nikki to the driveway.  This weekend, we were able to get her to the van, so she could see our daughters in their dance competition.  They danced beautifully, and Nikki got to see every dance number in-person. 

In addition to the ramps, we also got transition items, items for foot movement, grip bars, and updates/modifications to frequently used rooms.  I want to give a huge "thank you" to everyone for help with room rearrangement, equipment installation, repairs, and support.  

We are also blessed that our church has created a meal train for us.  This is so helpful, and the meals are delicious.  I am finding it difficult to express the immensity of the thankfulness I have for our family, friends, and wonderful community.

Many blessings,

Greg, Nikki and the entire Nelson family

Hi Friends -- it's Greg.

You have rallied behind Nikki so much throughout this cancer journey; and we are thankful for your love and support for our family. If you are in a position to help, we are currently battling some tough physical and financial challenges.

Nikki is on a new steroid and chemotherapy, and the result is that she can't really feel her legs and she has no leg strength. Mobility and transitions are big hurdles.

We are still working on the logistics and the funding for these things:

- Nursing

- Ramps

- Transition devices (Hoyer lifts and other devices to get in-and-out of the wheelchair)

- Wheelchair accessible van

- Bathing aides

- Physical therapy

- Supplements

- Mobility care

Some of our family and friends quickly responded by installing grab bars, buying stability items, bringing meals, and sourcing portable movement aides. Thank you for your gifts of time, care, compassion, work, and treasure.  We also know how much you have been praying for us, and that is a tremendous gift.

All the best,

Greg, Nikki, and the Nelson family

Merry Christmas, everybody! This is Greg, and I wanted to send a quick note to say thank you for everything you have done for our family.  You sent us to Mexico for Nikki's treatments, you have prayed for us, and you have given us the gift of your support and friendship.  As I look back on the year, I wanted to make sure that let you know how much it means to us that you have lifted us up.

A quick update on Nikki--the oncologist was happy with her most recent PET scan.  She has the energy to teach her math classes on the 3rd floor.  Our children carry up her books, but she negotiates the stairs every week, which is a win.  She's always keeping all of the wheels spinning at our house--every child has gotten to work and activities.

We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas, and we wish you all the best.

Sincerely,

Greg, Nikki, and the family

Hi Everyone,

This is Greg.  It has been a while since I posted an update, and I think I sent an email to several people before figuring out where to go to post updates.  If you got an email (or more than one), I apologize.

From the bottom of our hearts, we want to thank you for all of your support. You have given us so many gifts. Thank you for funding Nikki's trip to Hope4Cancer. She received treatments and protocols that are continuing to help her. Thank you also for your prayers. I re-read the prayers you posted on this website, and I am grateful for your words of encouragement and love. I know that you continue to pray for us--I am often asked for updates for prayer groups. All of your personal and group prayers are truly life-giving.

Today's update is that Nikki is now taking opportunities to walk in public places without the aid of her walker! This happens in short bursts when she is feeling particularly strong. It is happening a little more often over the most recent two weeks--which is great. She has been doing physical therapy through the Mayfield Brain & Spine Clinic, and they are encouraging her to strengthen the mapping between her brain and her leg muscles. She's been working hard at this--often strengthening her legs at my Mom's pool (as I write this, she is treading water at least 30 uninterrupted minutes). She started leaving her walker only to walk on flat surfaces (e.g., when going to a restaurant, etc.). Lately, she is walking up and down steps--leading to yesterday's feat of walking up a staircase that is a little more than one story in height. She climbed the entire height from our cancer center's lower level to the second floor.

Her most recent torso scans have come back with the result of "unremarkable"--in cancer-clinic language, this means that they don't see significant tumor growth. We'll take it. Next week, she will have her brain MRI. It would be nice to be "unremarkable" there as well. We'll keep praying. And thank you for continuing to pray for us.

All the best,

Greg, Nikki, and the Nelsons

From Greg,

Thank you for helping Nikki on this cancer journey.  I want to give you a bit of potentially happy news from recent findings. 

Yesterday, Nikki's radiological surgeon told us that he was impressed by some aspects of her most recent brain scans.  About two years ago, Nikki underwent radiological surgery for a difficult spreading of the breast cancer along the covering of the brain.  Yesterday the doctor said that he didn't see obvious evidence of tumor activity along that covering.  If we see this consistently across future scans, this would be a HUGE finding.  I am taking heart with this news--and I thank God for his many blessings.  I appreciate that He has brought you into our lives and that you support our family.

Nikki still has radiological surgery yet to undergo.  Yesterday, she started a 5-day pinpoint radiation sequence to her cerebellum.  Please pray for her as she goes through these treatments.

I appreciate your friendship.

All the best,

Greg, Nikki, and the Nelson family

From Greg...

WE JUST PAID OFF THE JANUARY TREATMENTS FROM HOPE4CANCER IN FULL!!!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! 

Thank you for helping to take this burden off of us, so Nikki can keep her thoughts on healing.  Thank you for your prayers.  Thank you for your friendship.  Thank you for your continuing support for our family. 

The funding for Hope4Cancer came from three main sources: this GiveSendGo account, private donations, and a spaghetti dinner that dear friends and family hosted for us last month.  I think a person rarely gets the chance to see in one place the range and breadth of people who care for and invest in you.  When I recall this event, I often say that I felt like George Bailey at the end of "It's a Wonderful Life".  People came from the youth theater we directed, from our children's sports teams, and from church.  Our neighbors came, the Knights of Columbus volunteered, the West Chester Fire Department ordered plates-to-go, and of course, dear friends and family coordinated efforts and gathered together for us.  I met a person who said, "I know you don't know me, but I see your family every week at church, I saw the flyer, and I wanted to come."  I am honored to be a part of your lives.  I am grateful for you.

We have back for a little over a month, and Nikki is continuing with the treatments from Hope4Cancer and with her regimen at Tri-Health.  She sometimes walks without the walker (short distances), and she continues to work on her healing.  Thank you for being a part of this journey.

All the best,

Greg, Nikki, and the Nelson Family

Hi Everyone,

This is Leslie. Just wanted to reach out and express my gratitude to all of you supporting my family! Your generosity is so very much appreciated.

One arm of our fundraising efforts was a spaghetti dinner which we held this past Saturday. What a wonderful evening of food, family and friends who have become family! For those of you who were able to join us, thank you so much for coming out! And for those of you who couldn't make it, we missed you! The image was taken before the festivities began.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

From Greg...

We're back!!!  We're so thankful for the treatments and the care at the Hope4Cancer clinic.  At the same time, we are extremely happy to be back with our family and our great friends in West Chester.  We returned on Aria's 14th birthday, and we celebrated with a great reunion and dinner.  We also made a surprise trip before we flew back.  As most of you know, Gina delivered a baby on Wednesday, making us grandparents.  When the driver from the clinic got us to San Diego, we rented a car and drove to Los Angeles.  This allowed us to see our little grandson and get back in time for our red-eye flight.  Mom and baby are healthy (Isai Arye Valle, 9lbs, 20 inches).

Nikki got encouraging news from the lab results on the last day of our stay.  Nikki doubled her white blood cell counts, bringing them back to normal levels for the first time since she started chemotherapy.  She also brought her liver enzyme counts into normal levels for the first time in a long time.  

We are so blessed with family and great friends who watched our children, stocked us with organic food, and cleaned our home before we returned.  I can't tell you how thankful we are for all of this.  We can start our time back in comfort and on the right foot with organic eating that is in-line with Nikki's healing. 

We are also blessed by all of you.  Thank you for making this possible.  Many blessings to all of you.

All the best,

Greg and Nikki

From Greg...

We have started our 3rd week!!  This clinic continues to offer some promising treatments, but it will be great to sleep in our own bed again.  It is great to keep up with the kids on FaceTime and texts, but nothing compares to being with them.

We will have to take a trip to Fresh Market or Whole Foods when we get home to pick up a bunch of organic selections containing anti-cancer agents that we hadn't researched prior to being here.  Our diet has been very clean (mostly plants, no refined sugars, no gluten, no dairy, no caffeine).  I do leave the clinic to get coffee.  Also, the other day, I went to a seaside place to splurge on a coffee and a waffle.  However, Nikki has been strict with her diet and right on every piece of the treatment regimen.

This week, the doctor introduced a natural substance called, Boswellia, into Nikki's treatment plan.  Boswellia is an extract of frankincense (the same spice that was offered to Jesus at the nativity).  Interestingly, in 2020, when Nikki was facing her first round of radiation treatments, a physician at Bethesda North also suggested frankincense.  He said, "Believe it or not, there is a lot of research about the benefits of frankincense.  You know, the one written about in the Bible?"  Nikki had researched this, but it never made it into our treatment regimen until now.  Here is an article explaining the finding from research about the anti-cancer properties of frankincense:  https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-01-boswellia-frankincense-anti-cancer-small.html

There is so much going on here, and every day counts.  New people are coming into the clinic, and we are helping to pass along our best wisdom about what to expect (we are as veteran as anybody now).  I am also talking to the caregivers about places to workout, eat, get coffee, watch American football, and get a haircut (believe it or not, these things can be difficult to find at first).

Thank you for your support and your prayers.  We appreciate your friendship and everything you do for us and our family.

All the best,

Greg and Nikki

From Greg...

It dawned on me that I haven't yet mentioned what makes this clinic so unique for helping Nikki heal from her metastasized breast cancer.  We chose Hope4Cancer because they offer research-backed treatments that are not currently available where we live.  The research supporting these techniques are published in peer-reviewed journals for medical science.

I want to tell you about a particularly exciting therapy that Nikki is undergoing here called, sono-photodynamic therapy.  In the "photo" part of this therapy, the doctors introduce a non-toxic photosensitive chemical that attaches to specific tumor cells.  These chemicals are sensitive to specific wavelengths of light.  When Nikki is introduced to that specific wavelength of light, a reaction takes place that creates a form of oxygen that breaks up the tumor.  The "sono" part works similarly, except that the agent that binds to the tumor is sensitive to specific sound frequencies. After the tumors are broken up, the immune system swallows up the tumor remnants.

I think this is fascinating.  If you are interested in reading more, this article offers a very clear explanation for the lay person:  https://cancerdoctor.com/article/sono-photo-dynamic-therapy/.

If you are like me and enjoy reading scientific journals, here also are a couple of references about sono-photodynamic therapy:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25202041/#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20present%20goals%20of%20photodynamic%20therapy,It%20treats%20cancer%20with%20ultrasound%20and%20sonosensitive%20agents.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211383520308509

I'm also attaching an image from Hope4Cancer about the physiology of sono-photodynamic therapy.

Thank you for all you have done to send us here.  Nikki is getting a lot of strength from your friendship, support, and prayers.

All the best,

Greg and Nikki

From Greg...

We are well within our second week at the clinic, and Nikki is excited about the treatments that she is receiving.  She often walks around the clinic without her walker or her cane.  She uses me as a spotter, which is needed to get out of chairs.  It seems that the first part of standing is the most difficult part because her legs need to "wake up".  After she gets moving, she walks around decently.  

We changed rooms.  The ramp from our previous room proved to be a little too steep.  The short set of stairs for our current room allows Nikki to more easily get out without a walker.  In general, we navigate better from our new room.

We are finding a good community of patients and caregivers with whom we can relate our stories and discuss what has been helpful for us.  We now have an extend group to pray for.  Part of this program involves dealing with emotional and behavioral health, and it is great to have the opportunity to share experiences with this group.  For the most part, people express that they feel blessed.  There is a lot of positivity here.

Over the weekend, a few of the caregivers walked to a restaurant down the road that played the NFL playoff games.  We had a Packers fan in our group, so that was a lot of fun.  I walked down in the evening to see the end of the Lions game.  In all, there were about 10 total people in the bar (not many locals care about the NFL playoffs around here).  So, I would say that our group increased the patrons by about one-third.  

On Sunday, we took our new friends to mass at 10:00am.  That is a children's mass, but it fits our treatment schedule.  Actually, I am glad that we go to the children's mass because the juvenile delivery helps me to understand the Spanish. 

All the best,

Greg and Nikki 

From Greg.

We completed an entire week!  

We are finally getting used to things around the clinic.  Nikki's schedule is more predictable than it was at the beginning, when they were running assessments and coming up with a tailored treatment plan.  She is now in treatments throughout the entire day, many times from 7:00 am to 5:30 or 6:00 pm.  We get to meet each other for meals, which is when we catch up and talk about the day.

We have met many other patients and caregivers who seem to be full of hope.  Many people are Christian, and they talk quite openly about God's work in their lives.  Like us, they don't take life for granted.  They savor the sunshine.  They enjoy the taste of the spices on their meals.  They watch sunsets (as do we).  I told one of the people that we enjoyed a service at a local Catholic church called, Estrella del Mar.  She hugged me and said that this was an answer to one of her prayers.  So, now we will have heartfelt companions for this week's mass.

I am getting used to the place, too.  I am finding rooms that I can occupy for my work meetings, working with the patient support staff to find available spaces.  The support staff and receptionists are helping me with my Spanish, which I use most often when I talk with kitchen staff, housekeeping staff, and coffee vendors.  I finally found a good coffee vendor only a few blocks' walk from the clinic.  I go there so regularly that they now know that I order a "Grande cafe Americano sin leche y sin azucar".  Only 35 pesos!  (a little more than $2 USD).

Thank you for making Nikki's treatments possible.  We appreciate your prayers and your support for Nikki, me, and our family.

Many blessings,

Greg and Nikki

From Greg...

Who Dey!  Although we can not watch any football (American that is) at the facility (or anywhere else nearby), we saw that the Bengals won today.  Nikki is a true Bengals fan (even during the Coslet years), so this made both of us happy.

I wanted to share a little bit from Nikki's first few days of treatment.  First, we had to acclimate to the facility and the long days involving a range of treatments.  Nikki has been hooked up to various medical devices, and our nutrition (both of us) has changed dramatically!  Most notably, there is no red meat, bread, gluten, dairy, or caffeine served at mealtimes.  While it is early yet, I see a definite improvement in a foot that had been very swollen (for months) and now is getting to approximately normally sized.  Maybe it's the nutrition, maybe it's something else--who knows?

The other day, Nikki had enough energy at the end of the day to walk to the boardwalk with me and enjoy a sunset.  We are right on the Pacific Ocean, and the strong waves make for a spectacle as the sun goes down.  Also, we made arrangements to attend mass today at Parroquia Santa Maria Estrella del Mar.  We only understood parts of the mass, but it was great to celebrate Eucharist together.

We also want to say how thankful we are that you have helped to create this opportunity for Nikki's healing.  We are also grateful for people providing for our kids while we are away. 

Many blessings,

Greg and Nikki

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that Nikki is excited and optimistic about starting treatment, which is scheduled to begin very soon and I will update you throughout.

Please know how much your generosity and prayers have eased the family's stress and allowed them to focus on this wonderful treatment opportunity. 

May God's light shine upon you and your loved ones,

Leslie

Hi Everyone,

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas with loved ones! Nikki and Greg spent the holidays enjoying the company of their kids with some home from school and other travels. We all got together Christmas Eve and had a great evening filled with food and laughter.

Nikki and Greg are now preparing for the Mexico trip so Nikki can start her healing program. I will update you as she moves down this path.

Thank you all for your generous donations to help make this trip possible. Bless you all and Happy New Year!

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to thank all of you for your outpouring of support and your generosity. The family is truly humbled and grateful. God is so very good!   

Many blessings to all of you.

Leslie