Hola Friends- good news! We got Jennifer down to a lovely spot in Mexico where treatments outside the box are offered. She has been having exciting "adventures in healing" since we updated. Bee sting therapy, hyperthermia, lots of learning about supplements... what a process! She is so willing to receive and so grateful for the assistance with getting her body to a better state.

I have seen the way it helps when we share her story with friends that may want to support an alternative cancer journey and encourage you all to share as you can to promote it. Any financial stress we can collectively help to alleviate in these times is such a blessing!

Jennifer thought she was a-okay after the liver biopsy so two days later my almost-four-year-old and I drove her and her husband to the Chinese New Year celebration in Jacksonville. It sounded like a good idea to get away from it all for a moment.

That turned out to be too much.

She spent the next day exhausted, suffering from pain in her side, and lying in bed. The liver biopsy left her with a large puncture wound, bruising, and profound fatigue. Everyone's different but the doctors, in her case, underestimated how hard it would be to recover.

We heard later that friend of ours had a kidney biopsy as a teenager and felt like she’d been run over by a truck for three weeks afterwards.

The biopsy results are in. Unfortunately, it is now confirmed that she has Stage IV metastatic melanoma.

The allopathic treatment is trying different immune therapies. This is purportedly what cured Jimmy Carter when he had metastatic melanoma in his 90s. Carter also had part of his liver removed and had radiation therapy to the melanoma spots in his brain. 

Ironically, immune therapy was the treatment she’d been hoping to do when she was first diagnosed as a way to wake up her own immune system so her body would clear the cancer that was originally discovered in her eye. 

At the time, the OHSU ocular oncologist said, “We don’t have access to that here,” a phrase the oncologist repeated three times, and insisted that the **only** option was an enucleation. Frustrating!

For more on that, you can read Jennifer’s Substack, “Vibrant Life.” It's free to subscribe but the cancer updates, since they're so personal are all behind the paywall. Here’s are a couple of links:

Enucleation: They Want to Remove My Left Eyeball (https://jennifermargulis.substack.com/p/enucleation)

Eye Can’t See: But I Have a Prosthetic Eye Now (https://jennifermargulis.substack.com/p/eye-cant-see)

It feels really sad to have gone through that devastating surgery only to have more cancer to clear. It also feels frustrating that she was not able to get access to a treatment option that may have resulted in shrinking the tumor in her eye without needing to remove it.

In addition to the immune therapy, we are looking for a program that will help get her immune system back on-line, as well as help her rebuild her strength and morale. 

We’re researching three in-patient treatment programs: Sanoviv, Hope4Cancer, and CMN. 

Please know she is doing absolutely everything she can to heal and doing her best. I know everyone means well but messages like, “If you value your life, you’ll click on this link and buy my product,” or “There’s no proof that IV vitamin C does anything,” or “If you find Jesus, your cancer will resolve by itself,” even though they're sent with love and concern, don’t promote healing.

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far. We know money is tight for many people. Even $5 will help us reach our goal. If you’d rather Venmo Jennifer directly, her handle is: @Jennifer-Margulis-2.

For those who are asking about what an alternative program looks like and costs, here is the one from Hope4Cancer. The prices are pretty staggering. But to put it in perspective, one immune therapy treatment costs on the order of $40,000, which is billed to insurance.

• 3-week Tijuana In-Patient Center Treatment at Hope4Cancer: $31,500.00 USD

3-week treatment program includes: daily therapy sessions, hospital room for you and a companion, your transportation to/from center, your meals, assessments upon arrival, 3-month supply of Home Program nutraceuticals, 1 year of Home Program Support, and 2 follow-up visits to come back to the center for further assessments.

• Sono-Photo Dynamic Therapy (SPDT): $7,500.00 USD

In-center local & full-body light therapy and ultrasound therapy with oral sensitizer, and 1 year of oral sensitizer & ultrasound device to continue treatment at home. Please see website for more information. (https://hope4cancer.com/alternative-cancer-treatments/sono-photo-dynamic-therapy/)

• Photo Dynamic Therapy Plus (PDT Plus): $9,300.00 USD

In-center laser light therapy with IV sensitizers, laser light watch, and a 3-month supply of oral sensitizer to continue treatment at home. Please see website for more information. (https://hope4cancer.com/alternative-cancer-treatments/pdt-plus/)

• DaVida™ Bio-Immunotherapy Protocol: $4,400.00 USD

In-center therapy provides injections and supplements with a 3-month protocol to continue at home. Please see website for more information. (https://hope4cancer.com/alternative-cancer-treatments/davida-bio-immunotherapy/)

• Subclavian Catheter (SCC): $850.00 USD

If needed, for daily IVs in the center

Please share this GiveSendGo on your social media chanels to help Jennifer get all the support and funding she can as she makes these difficult choices. Thank you for the prayers and stories you are sending her way also- her eyes get strained easily right now so she is not able to respond to everyone but is appreciative of the care. Thank you!

Love,

Melissa 

Jennifer had a liver biopsy on Feb 13. She was in the hospital for 6 hours, though the procedure didn’t last long. Everyone at Asante was very kind and all 3 of her nurses had names that started with N (Nathan, Nicky, and Nicole). That’s a prerequisite to getting hired there. Despite the smile in the photo, she was terrified. The next day she felt like she’d been run over by a truck and spent most of the day in bed. She’s feeling better and almost recovered now. She asked me to send huge gratitude to everyone who’s donated or shared this fundraiser. A lot of people are feeling pinched and we know even a few dollars can be hard to spare. Thank you for your support and generosity. 🙏❤️🙏❤️ She’ll hopefully get the results of the biopsy this coming week and then make a treatment plan. We will do our best to keep you updated. Jennifer can’t be on the computer much due to eye strain but she asked me to tell you she also very much appreciates your prayers and words of support. Thank you to all of you who have been able to share this givesendgo also- it helps so much!