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| Pascale Brunier
To help Yes to Life support Pascale, click here |
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 This is my appeal for your help.It’s been a difficult decision to make but I’m trying to save my life so necessity overrules pride. I have been fighting a rare cancer for 4 years and have had several major surgeries, chemotherapies and radiotherapy on my journey. Initially, shortly after surgery, I was given weeks to live being told I probably would not see my daughters reach adulthood. Breaking the news to them was heart breaking as we had been a close family unit together particularly since raising them singlehandedly from the ages of 9 and 11. Despite the main shock of dealing with my impending death my main panic was how my girls would cope. Whilst I believed I would not even make the autumn of 2006, I coped by celebrating the time I had left with my daughters and my partner who I had met just weeks before diagnosis and who together with my girls, has been a rock for me throughout my illness. His relentless research found a number of integrated treatments with evidence of how effective they were at controlling cancer. In truth, despite being a nurse myself I was scared of having chemotherapy especially with the small odds of it working as I was told by my oncologist. I was told I could not use any complementary treatments with chemotherapy because of fears of interaction and the decision to go ahead was torturous, But when I saw the desperation in my daughters faces I realised I had to do everything I could to fight it. Six months into a harsh chemo regime , I found out through a second opinion in France that I had been in remission since surgery. It seemed that what radiologists believed was a local recurrence of the cancer following major surgery, was in fact scarring from the surgery itself. We were overjoyed. This was the stuff of dreams! However, 18 months later, just when we all thought I may have beaten it, it returned to my liver. I could tell by the doctors face that it was serious. More chemo and more surgery for which I was grateful ..but while I was recovering from the liver surgery I was told that it was on the lungs. Being a rare cancer and having survived longer than expected I was told by my oncologist that we were now in ‘unchartered waters’ as to how to treat conventionally. I had more surgery but more tumours were found. At this point I decided not to give up and started an integrated approach to my treatment in earnest following several alternative and complementary treatments. An integrated practitioner put me on a special diet with supplements and taught me not to be scared of my disease. I started to live with cancer not die from it. I began to believe that though it may never get rid of it completely I could at least stabilise it. My cancer although still on the lungs, stabilised for 18 months doing this. Unfortunately after a period of stress it came back on the liver quite aggressively, just before Christmas 2009 . I needed to attack this more aggressively and was told by my Oncologist that all they could offer me was palliative chemo. I embarked on a more active attack to my disease using integrated approaches together with abalation treatment that now seem to have stabilised or at the very least slowed my disease right down. Unfortunately these treatments though effective are not available on the NHS and despite many of them provided by non profit making clinics are still very expensive. I have remortgaged to the maximum and credit cards are at their limit. Yes to Life have made a generous contribution to my costs but being a small charity trying to help many others in my position are not in a position to support the high monthly costs of treatment which amount at present to £1000 a month. Hence, my appeal to you. There are several treatment options available to me but all cost money. Can you help? In whatever way you feel fit. Every month I have with my family is a precious gift and not only has this treatment given me hope I also feel very well on it enabling me to still work as a nurse and I truly believe that the disease is stabilising again. I know several people who have managed to live with stable cancer using this approach for many years and indeed managed to beat it too and I would love the chance to achieve the same. For that I now need your help. Yes to Life is a charity originally set up by two loving parents to help their daughter this way. They continue to help others and have set up a special fund raising account on my behalf which will go directly to my treatment costs. If you can help please click here. All contributions would be very much appreciated If you would like to know more about Yes to Life, click here. Thankyou |
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