Hello Everyone,
As many of you know Charlotte was recently diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer on Dec 27th, 2018. This happened just over 2 weeks after her third child, Maxwell, was born. Her diagnosis was unfortunately delayed as her pain was being attributed to pregnancy complications. Charlotte and her husband Gaston also have two other children, Isabella who is 4 years old, and Alexandra who is 3.
During the week that followed, it was confirmed the cancer had spread to her liver and lungs, meaning the cancer has reached Stage 4. After multiple visits to local doctors and hospitals, Charlotte decided to get further opinions from Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NYC. These trips were extremely tiring for her, but they were so helpful in deciding what were the best options in treatment, and Charlotte was amazing. Charlotte decided to get treated at Dana Farber where she could be closer to her family, and also be receiving the same Chemotherapy that MSKCC had recommended.
All of the doctors agreed Charlotte needed Chemotherapy as soon as possible, which was planned for the very next week on Monday, January 14th. Ironically, just two days before her chemo was due to start, her oncologist at Dana Farber received a letter confirming approval of a brand new clinical trial that Charlotte may very well qualify for. She needed a miracle, and this was perfect timing. However, in order to qualify for the trial, this meant Charlotte had to do redo all of her tests, some of which included CT scans, PET scans, MRI's and a lung biopsy. All of these tests now go to the drug company for review, and then they will decide if Charlotte can be included in the trial. We will hopefully know whether she has been approved by the end of January. Unfortunately, Charlotte cannot have previously had any form of treatment, including Chemotherapy, to be included in the trial- so we now wait. This will be a very long 2 weeks. We are hoping Charlotte can get a short break to spend time with her family and friends before starting her Chemotherapy.
As many of you know, Charlotte is very spiritual and her Baha'i beliefs are very dear to her heart. There is a Healing Prayer for Women in the following link:
https://www.bahaiprayers.org/healing5.htm . If you can add it to your prayers this would mean so much to her and would be extremely comforting. We have also set up a meal plan page to help Charlotte and her family with meals during this time. -
https://takethemameal.com/KVTY2385# (
https://takethemameal.com/KVTY2385# Please) . Please check this link for updates regularly if you sign up, as there could be changes to her diet restrictions in the weeks to follow.
As we continue to embark on this journey we will try our best our best to update this page frequently. Charlotte will also continue to post updates on her facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/charlotte.rebecca.98 . as well as her Instagram: @cngarukiye . Feel free to show your support through social media as well as here.
We would like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has already been helping and reached out to help during this time. Charlotte and our family feel so very blessed by the support.
Love,
Charlotte and Family
