Earlier this year, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. Although, we don't think of it as anything other than needing to rebalance her health since a healthy body can heal imbalances. That's what it's made to do afterall! All her life she's been a vibrant, youthful, and hardy person. I can barely recall memories of her being sick when I was growing up, even with a cold. She's been such a rock to me. She's a solo mom. She's a hard worker who has provided a wonderful life for me growing up. Her personality is also the type where you have to force her to be "selfish". You need to remind her to slow down and turn her brain off, and even then, it's nearly impossible for her to do so. She spends nearly all of her time taking care of others and improving the world around her. It's difficult to get her to take care of herself.

Like I said, she's a rock to those of us who love and rely on her. But now, after a whole lifetime of working her tail off, I want her to be able to have some monetary peace of mind during this time of healing. One of the greatest strains over the past few months has been the financial aspect. I have been so proud of her, watching her exercise her trusting faith that God will provide -- and living day-by-day, as hard as it can be to wait for the daily bread.

To rewind to the diagnosis...after the initial mix of panic, confusion, and dread -- which involved SO many emotional highs and lows for us as a family -- we decided to pursue a naturopathic healing journey. The doctors were pushing an immediate mix of hormone therapy, chemotherapy, and radiation (allopathic medicine). If you've ever been in a similar circumstance, you know how scary it is to have information overload thrown at you. However, after hard praying and deep thinking, she felt that naturopathic medicine was the only direction for her.

Her body cannot healthily go through chemo or radiation. It would eat away at her immune system and her body would not be able to heal well. Her lymphatic system, adrenals, liver, and thyroid are all functioning less than optimally, so any kind of aggressive treatment is not viable. This means, though, that insurance will not cover any treatments that are not chemo, radiation, or hormone therapy. Instead, we knew that we'd have to pay for her healing journey.

So, after denying the traditional cancer treatments, we embarked on an enormous amount of research, talking with alternative doctors and paying for medicines and therapies. We both agree that the past 5 months have felt more like 5 years with how much we've learned and been through. We've read book after book, have listened to podcasts galore, have scrolled through blog post after blog post, and have traveled to naturopathic doctors outside of our area. It's been a crazy road to maneuver as far as dialing in on what therapies, holistic medicines, and resources we can use for her individual needs.

The costs of these have racked up into the ten thousand plus range. We've done numerous procedures, exams, medical tests, consultations, therapies (including vitamin C IVs, Rife machines, etc.), holistic medicines, nutritional supplements, household products such as juicers, lymphatic vibration plates, etc. It's amazing how quickly costs can add up. Early on during one consultation, we had a doctor ask us, "What's your cancer budget?", which was like a punch to the stomach since we never expected to be in the position (without the help of insurance). It's surreal to put a "budget" on one's health.

Needless to say, it's been a burdensome blessing. In other words, we never would have wished for any of this to happen, and the learning journey has felt like a crushing weight at times. But, we feel hugely grateful for the amount of spiritual and personal growth we've been through. God is ever faithful and is ever-present. Plus, along the way, we've met wonderful people who are also on their own alternative cancer healing journey. And if we're able to raise more than enough money, we will pass it on and I'll post an update on this page about who gets the excess funds. :)

For anyone who feels led to help us regain financial stability, please know how much your kindness means to us. We can't wait to give you a huge hug (or ten) when we all get to Heaven one day. Until then, you will be in our prayers. And we pray that God will bless you likewise -- that all your needs will be so wonderfully met. Thank you, truly! :)

With gratitude,

Kylie

"And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen." (Philippians 4:19-20)

"Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers." (3 John 1:2)

"The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." (Psalm 18:2)