Alternative Treatment Failure

So, the alternative treatment isn’t working as expected. Now what?

Option one: Chemotherapy (again)

The success/cure rate of chemotherapy for patients with Hodgkin Lymphoma is really high. 90% are cured, while only 10% experience disease recurrence.

That high success rate only applies to first-line chemotherapy though. Every consecutive chemotherapy treatment thereafter has a lower success rate and a higher mortality rate.

Unfortunately, I happen to be part of the 10% experiencing disease recurrence. I could do chemo again, but it’ll be more dangerous, and even if it puts me in temporary remission, recurrence will most likely happen again, and again.

There is no guarantee that further chemo treatments would even be effective at all; it may actually kill me before the cancer does.

I am open to receiving chemotherapy again, but I’m thinking of the risks and long-term outlook. If I do decide to take this route, treatment may be ineffective, or the treatment may temporarily kill the disease again, giving me a few extra years of life until it returns again, at which point chemotherapy will again be less effective, if not entirely ineffective. Chemotherapy also poisons the entire body, not just the cancer cells, so it may even kill me. Due to me being part of the 10% experiencing disease recurrence, choosing this option may be ineffective or downright lethal.

My only other option is Immunotherapy…

Option two: Immunotherapy (preferred)

The best option for me when it comes to long-term survival is Immunotherapy. Unlike chemotherapy, immunotherapy does not poison the entire body; it only targets specific markers, and the success rate is extremely high. So the best option would be to decline further chemotherapy which may do more harm than good, and skip to the only remaining option that still has a high success rate: Immunotherapy.

The only problem is that it’s extremely expensive, very few providers even offer it, and medical schemes do not cover it at all due to its high cost. And since I’m not a millionaire, this treatment would have to be crowd-funded, putting me into a position where my life depends on the empathy, kindness, and generosity of others.

With help from family, I (we) are reaching out to South African Immunotherapy providers in order to get a full treatment cost breakdown. Once we know the full cost of treatment, we will set up a BackaBuddy campaign in the hope of crowdfunding my treatment so that I can finally (hopefully) get rid of this disease for good.

Follow my journey to recovery…

Thank you for following my journey. I’m still unsure of which option I’ll end up going with, but I hope to find a way to beat cancer and to continue working on creative projects, becoming independent, reaching my goals, living my dream, and making the most of what life has to offer.

Keep an eye on my blog for future updates.

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#Personal #Cancer