A local woman battling cancer is optimistic she'll be able to travel to Mexico for specialized treatments this summer after receiving good news about her fight against the disease.
Andrea Barker, who was told her illness was terminal early this year, is continuing to receive treatment in Alberta and is resting up and hoping to travel south for natural and conventional treatments at a clinic near Tijuana in July.
Her latest body scan on March 19 showed there are no visible signs of follicular lymphoma tumours and so concerns she might not be healthy enough to travel are beginning to fade.
“It looks like that's what's going to happen. I sent a copy of my CT (scan) to Dr. (Isai) Castillo so he'll be looking at that, so I'm just waiting for a reply from him,” she said.
Castillo works at the Mexican clinic where Barker hopes to receive treatment.
In the meantime, Barker, who was first diagnosed with follicular lymphoma more than two years ago, will continue with chemotherapy and other treatments in Alberta until she hears about a possible commencement date for her treatments in Mexico later this summer.
Barker has been taking high doses of vitamin C and hoxytonic, a medicine that helps cleanse the body, for about a month.
“Right now, she's looking to go down for her first whole treatment at the end of July, but she may go down in May to get the medicine and bring it back here,” said Barker's sister, Jaeme Redgwell.
Redgwell said the family is still amazed at the community support shown to the family in February from a fundraiser to help cover the costs for travel and treatment in Mexico.
The benefit raised more than $54,000.
Each treatment session in Mexico is roughly three weeks long and costs between $7,000 and $9,000 US.
“We're all so amazed. You never think that when you ask for help people are going to help and … I think Olds is a fantastic place. We never, ever thought in a million years that we would have a night like we did. We're just truly blessed,” she said.
“Never in my wildest imagination did I expect that. We were honestly looking to hopefully cover the cost of a trip down there and then for that to happen is just mind-blowing,” added Barker.
