My Year of Healing

September 2023 through August 2024 was one of the most difficult years of my life, mostly due to extreme pain. I had a pulmonary embolism, an abcess, two lung collapses with surgeries, radiation on my lung, radiation on my cervical spine, and new rounds of chemotherapy. With tumors shrinking, the nerve pain is lessening and I have gone through very severe drug withdrawals to get off the many drugs I was on. My 3rd round of chemo ends on my 23rd birthday and it will be the beginning of a new year for me. Please join me in celebrating a new life for a new me!

From August 12-18, 2024 I attended the Joe Dispenza meditation retreat in Grapevine, Texas. I was gifted the retreat by the Nik’s Wish organization which grants wishes to young adult cancer patients to bring joy to their lives. This meditation retreat was very uplifting and very difficult for me since I was still suffering from anxiety, weakness and exhaustion, however, it was an amazing week full of incredible love and support from so many amazing people. I made a lot of great friends and I learned I just had to stay open to the present one moment at a time.

I was given so much love and support by so many people at the meditation retreat, I didn’t know how desperately I needed it.

I made some great friends at the retreat and I hope to stay in touch with everyone!

August 22, 2024 - I had to go immediately back into chemo after the meditation retreat, but I was greeted by my favorite nurse and she set me up just right. I am continuing to meditate in the hospital, sometimes it’s a walking meditation or a guided meditation and sometimes it’s just a silent meditation. I know that meditation is a big part of my healing.

August 28, 2024 - Today was my 23rd birthday. I was released from the hospital at 9am after finishing my 3rd round of chemo. I felt as good as one could after 7 days of chemo and I decided to go have a burrito on the pier with my friends. Then my family had a surprise Napoleon Dynamite party for me. It was a bit much, but there were lots of laughs and lots of love and I appreciate the good intentions. Now on with my healing!

September 14, 2024 - I moved into my apartment near Cal Poly this weekend. Classes begin in a week and I’m planning on taking one class to ease back into school. I still have 3 rounds of chemo to get through during this quarter, but I am so happy to meet my new roommates and hang out with other college students. My apartment complex has a very nice gym and I’m looking forward to working out again.

October 2024 - I went to another week long Joe Dispenza meditation retreat. The first few days were very difficult for me, but once I adjusted to the program I had a very good experience. I again made a lot of really great friends and I am continuing to do the work.

December 2024 - Since finishing my 12th round of chemo I am starting to feel strong again. I started surfing and it feels better to me than I expected. I have been spending a lot of time with friends and family this month. I went on a camping trip to Joshua Tree with my girlfriend and her family and was able to do a little bouldering. I also visited a friend in San Diego and surfed with him. I even took a quick trip out to the Channel Islands with friends. All this activity and connection is improving my mental and physical well-being. I am just feeling so much better.

Power of 8 Intention Group - A group of friends have been holding an intention/prayer for me daily for nearly a year now and I would like to encourage others to join. I had times of severe pain where the intention was to give me ease and other times my blood counts were low and the intention was to increase my blood counts, which we were able to see an increase in my blood tests. Now the intention is to help block a cell line in my body that may help to down-regulate an enzyme that is overproduced in most people with SS. This down regulation may cause the cancer cells to die naturally like they are supposed to. The intention is to inhibit the cell line TYK2/stat3/Bcl2 and Mcl1 cell lines. Most people are intending to inhibit the TYK2 cell line and encourage apoptosis (cell death) in the cancer cells in my body. This can be done for any person with synovial sarcoma. Thank you for continuing to support me.