Hello Friends,

my name is Audrey Hockel.

In a nutshell, I’m a devoted traditional Catholic, wife to Caleb, mother of 6. A research guru and devoted to healthful, intentional living, enjoying life’s simple pleasures and God’s beautiful world.

 And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints  [Romans 8:28] 

Im here to share some recent news, and to beg.

I’ll start this story in June, after my husband deployed for the year to the Middle East. I started experiencing pain in my abdomen, related to anxiety. I mostly ignored it and did my best to navigate the day to day for myself and my children. Fast forward to end of August, to which said pain turned chronic, some days were more intense, some days were ignorable.

The middle of September my husbands step dad passed away.

Thankfully, my husband was sent home immediately for the funeral. The following week my pain was intensifying, and I agreed to go to the ER. They did the standard checks as well as a CT scan. The ER doctor recommended a follow up with our family doctor and an MRI.

The MRI results led to a a PET scan, referral to a hepatologist and an oncologist.

I have to admit here, that when I received the MRI results, the ensuing days were awful. I cut out many food groups, before I had a solid plan to feed myself well. I was fearful, crying, and could not get a handle on my nerves. Which made me feel even more sick and starving.

When we finally met with the oncologist to go over PET scan results, I had my list of questions.

The oncologist labeled me with cholangiocarcinoma.

when I asked her the prognosis with treatment, she said; “Yes, excellent question. So, keep in mind the average patient who gets this disease is usually 60-80 years old. After patients are diagnosed, they usually live 12-18 months.”

“With treatment?!” I asked.

“With treatment.” She said with a smile.

The appointment went on a little longer, but that was the end of that for me. Internally, and instantly, all I could feel coursing through my body was, “no thank you. I came here for a starting point, and I have what I need. I reject this model of care, I reject another human being telling anyone how long they’ll live for. I don’t believe any of this.

We left that appointment in silence. I had to take a moment, a surreal moment to face my Lord and God. None of us are promised tomorrow. We aren’t made for this life, I’ve always known this, and do my best not to take things for granted. Yet there I was, crying, thinking of my babies growing up with out me. Wondering if I’m gone in a year, who will take care of them. Who will love them, hug them when they’re ornery and frustrated, speak life and love when they experience the cruel world. Who will wake up with them in the middle of the night to cuddle and sooth them back to sleep. Gabrielle, Dimitri, Alice, Anselm, Liesl and Pia. 6 human beings that God bursts my heart with everyday. Each of them going through their different phases and milestones, how could I leave them now. And what about my husband. He is truly my person. Ever since he came into my life I was home. He is home. what would I be going through if I was in his shoes. How can I help him in this. And I realized, that I cannot. And I completely surrendered myself to Jesus and I begged. And I haven’t stopped since. I told you I was here to beg.

And so, I immediately went to the website of an integrative cancer center that I’ve known about and respected. I needed to talk to a holistic doctor. I filled out the consult information, and within minutes of sending it, received a text message to be on the lookout for a call. 10 minutes later I received a call. We pulled over on the side of the road and talked for over 30 minutes. The lady from Hope 4 Cancer center went over a complete, and comprehensive treatment plan, price break down, went over details of therapies and treatments, and then asked me my story. And listened! I asked her their statistics, and she said, we would never tell anyone how long they have to live. We focus on quality of life. We not only want to heal you, but we also want to find out why this happened, what brought this on, the root cause, and make sure it never comes back.

At the end of the phone call I had made my decision.

When we left that office, I felt like Jesus had picked me up, a crumpled fearful, anxious mess, and has been holding me up since. I’m just begging Him to not let me go.

I would love to wake up from this and go home and homeschool my children, and clean our house, and read our books together…..I know God has a plan and Christ is my strength, and now it’s time to practice the faith I preach.

I share all these details, for a few reasons. I know my friends and family will have questions and will want to know all the details. It all happened so fast. And I also want anyone reading this who has ever had to face anything like this, to know you always have choices and you deserve better than a death sentence.

Cancer is an emotional and metabolic disease and Jesus heals our body, mind and spirit.

So here I am. And here we are.

$51,000 will cover a year of treatment at www.Hope4cancer.com

This includes a 3 week inpatient stay with room and nourishing food, and intensive therapies for 6-8 hours a day, and the following year worth of therapies and injections to do at home with 2-3 follow up visits.

I’m asking for $60,000 to help cover the $51k, airfare, and additional wellness tools we’ll need once I return.

I plan to start treatment in November.

I know God will take care of me, and my family.

Please keep my family, especially my children and husband in your prayers.

Thank you for reading, thank you for your prayers, and thank you for your alms.

With Love in Christ,

Audrey Caroline

Infant Jesus, save me.

Holy Mother of God, pray for us.

🌱Keep Calm and pray the rosary.🌱