As stated above, chemotherapy is the only treatment currently available to Amanda through the local cancer centers. With any luck, chemo will shrink the tumors but more than likely won't eliminate the disease. The Oncologists say that "it will come back." With chemo, remission could last anywhere from a few days to a few years, with the full expectation that it will return.

Unfortunately, often after chemo, cancer cells become more resistant to treatment. When this happens, doctors have to up the ante with stronger and stronger drugs and/or finally stem cell transplant. For Amanda, having a stem cell transplant would require that they remove her bone marrow, give her a very high dose of chemo, and then assuming that she survives this, the "cleaned up" bone marrow would be returned to her. Or the doctors could suggest replacing her marrow with someone else's stem cells, if available. Researchers are still experimenting to find the best approach. If the stem cell transplant fails, Amanda would most likely not have long to live.

Because chemotherapy drugs are so toxic to our healthy cells as well as the "unhealthy" ones, often times there are permanent repercussions including increased risk of developing secondary cancers. Amanda wholeheartedly believes that, given the proper support, our bodies have the natural ability to heal themselves. I believe this too. This is why Amanda is looking at alternative healing methods and treatments that can help her body heal better with longer lasting benefits and fewer side effects.

Yesterday Amanda informed me that she is definitely going to the ITL Cancer Clinic. The clinic has accepted her into their treatment and has agreed to accept a payment plan. Because time is of the essence (over 5 months have passed since diagnosis, she will be reporting to ITL this week. Depending upon how progressive the cancer is, Amanda may have no choice but to do chemo first; but if she does, she will also elect for the treatment from ITL in conjunction with the chemo.

If you've clicked on the link for the ITL Cancer Clinic above, you will note that the clinic is located in the Bahamas. I know this sounds lavish but if the treatment were available here in Massachusetts it would be more affordable to Amanda. She is not going for a vacation, she is going so she can have a chance to live longer.

Amanda is fortunate to have many good friends and people that care about her. She has a friend who owns a condo near the clinic who has offered it to her while she is in treatment. This is a friend who previously went to this clinic for his own cancer and who has been treated with much success.

Unfortunately, the treatment that Amanda has selected is NOT covered by insurance. What this means is that in addition to paying the costs of attending the ITL Cancer Clinic, Amanda also has to pay for her living expenses while in the Bahamas. Since her income is based on her massage therapy practice, Amanda will be losing 2-3 months or more of income while she attends the clinic.

A very conservative out-of-pocket cost estimate for this treatment and associated expenses (i.e., travel, living, time out of work, etc. is $30,000-40,000. This is a very steep cost for Amanda so I'm hoping through family and friends and anyone else who this touches, we can find a way to help Amanda afford this.

I know we don't all have a condo to lend or extra money to spend but if we all put our hearts and minds together, we can each find ways to help.

Today, October 13, 2006, we raised our first $25.00. Thank you for your contribution. You know who you are!
October 14, 2006 - Word spread fast!! Amanda received a generous donation of $2,500. Thank you very much for your kindness
October 16, 2006 - Another $50.00 came in. Thank you for your help... all the way from Austin, TX.
October 17, 2006 - Amanda informed me that she had directly received support from a few other friends. This includes: $100, $900 and $1,000. Seems like a lot of people really care!
October 20, 2006 - All the way from the west coast, a concerned friend gave $200. Thank you!
October 28, 2006 - Good friends from Foxboro donated $200.
November 2, 2006 -- Sent by a friend for Amanda's birthday... sometime in November (shhh!)
Between Nov. 8th and Dec. 26th --- Amanda received numerous additional donations from her friends in the amount of $7730. Thank you everyone who has contributed!

11-07-06 Greetings from Grand Bahama! I'm here, despite a bad case of fish poisoning just after my arrival. The poisoning, no doubt, confuses matters and the treatment itself makes me tired and achy; but we have daily blood draws Monday-Friday and all of my lab reports so far have been excellent. I've been showing "very high" and "ultra high tumor kill" rates. The doctors will have an even better idea just how well it's working for me after 4 weeks, and then again in 8 weeks. I've been here two weeks already, so I'm well on my way there! Tune in later!

11-23-06 Happy Thanksgiving! We celebrated Bahamian-style... poolside of course. About 60 patients and clinic staff gathered for a turkey feast today. I can't believe 5 weeks have gone by already. So far, my bloodwork looks really good and my immune system seems to be responding. Everyday I'm amazed at the patients' stories! It's very encouraging and I keep my fingers crossed that I will be sharing my own success story soon enough!

12-18-06 I was truly enjoying loafing in the sun, but I'm happy to be back home and feeling great. My stay in the Bahamas was a little touch and go for the first few weeks, as the fish poisoning really did a number on me. Unlike food poisoning, it's a neurological toxin that the fish pick up from eating off the local reefs. The irony is that the symptoms are exactly the same as advancing lymphoma... very scary! But as of two or three weeks ago, I was finally able to say with certainty that I definitely feel better than I did before I left home.

1-17-07 Happy New Year...I'm counting on a great 2007 for all! For starters, I'm doing really well. I'm taking 10-12 injections per day and easing back into work. Although I've decided to keep my workload light for a while, my energy is very good. I'm excited to say that I also found a new doc at Dana-Farber who is willing to work with me while I'm doing IAT, as he's well aware of its merits and has seen it work for himself. We will monitor my progress with CAT scans; the next one is scheduled for March. We don't expect to see visible changes for at least 5-6 months, but hope that we have at least slowed, if not stopped the progression of the disease at this point. With any luck, we will see reversal over time! PS I finally figured out how to find the guestbook entries... thank you all for you messages. I love hearing from you!

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