Bracelets for Lisa

Bracelets for Lisa

Lisa is a mother of three suffering from a life threatening cancerous brain tumor, called an anaplastic astrocytoma.  Her 14-year-old daughter, Lynsey, designed bracelets for Lisa to raise money for her mother’s medical care. Lynsey’s Mom has been battling her cancer for over 6 years. She has undergone brain surgery, radiation and 26 rounds of IA chemo. Recent MRI scans show that her brain tumor has grown significantly and that the chemo she has been taking for the last 2 years isn't working anymore. She is no longer a candidate for chemotherapy treatment and there’s not much more that can be done. We are selling bracelets for Lisa to show our support! Both of Lynsey’s parents have incurable cancer; Her Dad has been fighting non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma for 9 years. They spent the last year in treatment together. Lynsey came up with the bracelets for Lisa idea because she wanted to join in the battle by helping her parents pay their medical bills.

Since Lynsey age 14 and her siblings Drew age 12 and Lily age 9, were very young, they have been dealing with cancer.  Their Dad was diagnosed with grade four Non-Hodgkins, small cleave follicular lymphoma in 2002.  Their youngest, Lily, was only 8 months old at the time.  Over the past 9 years he has undergone numerous treatments.  This past year was the first time both parents were in treatment at the same time.

Lisa was diagnosed with a grade three malignant brain tumor, called an Anaplastic Astrocytoma, in her left temporal lobe in May of 2005.  She had surgery at the University of MN, which removed 80% of the tumor; she then underwent radiation and a year of Temodar chemotherapy.  She was never able to return to work because of the debilitating effects the treatment had on her memory and speech. Lisa is also unable to drive adding even more difficulty to their lives.  In 2009 the tumor came back, devastated; she had to start treatment again. Her first round of inter-arterial chemotherapy was not successful, she found out the tumor had nearly doubled in size in the month between her first and second treatment. The tumor was now extremely aggressive.  She decided to try inter-arterial Carboplatin chemotherapy together with a new drug called Avastin.  Lisa had an MRI, then a tumor conference to clear her for a three-day treatment in hospital every 28 days; the Avastin is every 14 days.  She did this regimen for 12 months with a good outcome, only about 2% of the tumor left. Over the last two treatments Lisa began having an allergic reaction to the Carboplatin. Lisa’s doctor felt given the tumor was is good control; her body needed a three-month break from treatment. When three months past, Lisa had an MRI to see if the tumor was active again. Our hopes were crushed when we learned there was unfortunately tumor remaining and growing. She had a profusion MRI two weeks later to be certain, the results showed noticeable growth. Devastated she had to begin inter-arterial Carboplatin chemotherapy with the Avastin again.  She underwent 27 rounds of inter-arterial chemotherapy treatment in hospital for three days every 28 days. With each treatment she began having more and more of an allergic reaction; as a result she needed to have many more drugs to counteract the reaction.  Recently we learned that Lisa is no longer a candidate for Carboplatin, because her tumor cells have mutated and began to grow despite the treatment.  She learned that her tumor has grown considerably since her last treatment. She has now tried Methotrexate therapy with Avastin. Which has about a 10-15% chance of slowing the growth of the tumor. We will learn if the treatment was effective at the end of July. There are no other treatment options left and unfortunately Lisa does not qualify for any clinical trials.

The Miller family has been through so much over the past nine years; it’s hard to even imagine what they are going through currently.  Lisa was very proud of Lynsey’s bracelet idea. She has been overwhelmed at the response Lynsey has drummed up thus far! Lisa and Lynsey are enjoying reading all the wall posts on Lynsey’s Facebook page as they come in! Lynsey’s new motto is “Once you choose hope, anything is possible.” She is finding out it truly is, through all the kind words that are being sent their way to get them through this impossibly tough time.

Each bracelet will be $3 or donation of your choice. All proceeds will be given to Lisa and Doug Miller for their medical bills. 

Bracelets For Lisa Facebook page. 

You can view and sign up to see updates on Lisa Miller on her Caring Bridge site. 

If you would simply like to donate money to Lisa and Doug, you can click on the donate to bracelets for lisa icon or visit any US Bank and make a deposit to the Donation Account of Douglas and Lisa Miller

There are 3 different choices: 

ORANGE- Cancer Sucks! Fight It! Cure It! on the top of the bracelet and Live For Lisa! on the inside.

LAVENDER- No One Fights Alone! Live For Lisa! (all on the outside)

TEAL- Once you choose hope, anything is possible. (all on the outside)