Fire Fight Neil's Brain Cancer

Neil's Story:
 On February 24th, Neil's life was changed forever. He was in the kitchen making toast for his wife who was not feeling well. As he was caring for her, he had a seizure that lasted for a few minutes. Luckily, his brother in law was there to respond quickly and called 911. The paramedics came and brought him to the trauma center. While enroute he had another seizure. In the hospital, they had to sedate him to stop the seizures. They did a CT scan and found bleeding in his brain. Doctors performed an emergency brain surgery to stop the bleeding. His chances of surviving and waking up from the surgery were very slim, but he beat those odds. February 27th, he was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme grade 4, the most malignant and aggressive type of brain cancer. March 7th, they performed a second surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible. They removed 4 cm from his temporal lobe. There are likely other areas of the brain that are affected, but are not yet visible. During his recovery from surgery, he has developed pneumonia and blood clots in his lungs. His prognosis is 1-2 years, but we have faith he will beat those odds too.

Current Plan:
 When Neil returned home from the hospital he immediately began alternative medicine. He started using frankincense oil daily, Rick Simpson oil (THC/CBD), a ketogenic diet, and taking supplements/herbs. He began radiation on April 16th and chemotherapy April 17th. For 6 weeks he will continue chemotherapy for 5 days on and 23 days off while increasing dosage. He will also be participating in a clinical trial. However, eventually the cancer cells will become resistant to the chemotherapy so he will need further alternative treatments that he cannot get here in the United States.

After Standard of Care:
 The Hogan family are hoping to receive further treatment for Neil at Hope4Cancer or Oasis of Hope in Tijuana, Mexico. These clinics offer alternative cancer therapies. Neil would stay for 3 weeks of treatment and possibly up to 6 weeks. Mary Kay would attend the clinic with him. The therapies are designed to remove toxins from his body and fuel him with the proper nutrients to turn his immune system into a cancer killing machine. They have non-toxic therapies that selectively kill cancer cells, while leaving normal, healthy cells unharmed, and are effective for crossing the blood brain barrier. Unfortunately, neither of these clinics are covered by insurance so they need your help to raise the money to help get him this care.

Current Needs:
-The treatment at Hope4Cancer will cost $42,900 upon check in. If additional weeks of treatment are needed, it will be $5,500 per week.
-The treatment at Oasis of Hope will cost $30,500 for 20 days upon check in. He will then be sent home with a twelve week treatment that costs $1,600. If an additional second cycle of treatment is needed it will be $8,000 a week.

The costs of these treatments are expensive, but very promising. They have not decided which center he will receive treatment from as they are still researching the best option of the two. Every single contribution will help us fight this aggressive cancer.

Links:
http://www.oasisofhope.com
https://hope4cancer.com

Hope, Strength, and Faith
 There are long term GBM survivors out there that the Hogan family has contacted personally so there is hope. These survivors either did the standard of care with alternative care or the alternative alone. We remain hopeful that Neil will be a long term survivor by doing the standard of care with alternative. From the start of his journey, Neil has been strong and kept his faith. After his second surgery he said, "An Irish man doesn't go down without a fight". If you know Neil, you know how proud he is to be Irish. When he was readmitted to the hospital due to blood clots in his lungs, his spirits were down so he prayed for God to send him a sign. His prayers were answered. The on call doctor came to talk to Neil and the doctors last name was Hogan. Neil loved this and they talked all about Ireland. His spirits were brought back up and he was able to relax. With his hope, strength, and faith we believe he will be a long term survivor too.

Please continue to pray for Neil and his family through this difficult time. Also, please feel free to share this page so we can help give Neil the care he deserves.

We thank you for your prayers, thoughts, and encouragement!