I wanted every one to know that you can still become a member of my tribe, even if you don't want to buy the tags or donate funds.

Yes that would be a blessing and I'm not going to lie - I need help financially. But I would love to just hear from you and catch up and if you don't know me, I'd love to "meet" you.

Also, if you are comfortable with forwarding the original invitation to your contact list, I would greatly appreciate it. I'd like to see it move forward around the world.

God bless you all.

My Human Tribe Project to raise money

Dear friend,

I'd like to introduce you to Human Tribe Project and invite you to join our Tribe supporting Noëlle Monteith.
The following is Noëlle Monteith's story:
I was diagnosed with stage 3/grade3, Her2+ breast cancer March, 2008. Since my diagnoses, my cancer has spread to my lungs, chest, lymph nodes, brain, and brain stem.
It has been an incredible journey. I have gone through 6 boughts of chemo and 3 different radiation treatments. Now I am considered stage 4 and according to the doctor's, I only have about 6 to 9 months left.
Well, a miracle happened and it has convinced me that I'm going to keep on living until God says otherwise. I'm not listening to the doctors' numbers because, I have proof that the two tumors in the brain have disappeared. They are completely gone! They left some brain and nerve damage behind, but the tumors themselves are NO WHERE TO BE FOUND. Praise God!

I have been in treatment for 2 and a half years straight now without a break. And I need your help desperately. I am still on disability and my doctor's are telling me I cannot work at this time. I have exhausted my savings and my family is having difficulty raising money as well for my sake. This is why I'm creating this tribe. To keep you update and to see if you would be willing to help me by buying a Tribe Tag.
I believe this will be an exciting way to raise funds to continue my treatment and to help with my everyday bills and prescriptions.
Thank you and God Bless each one of you and your families. Noëlle
Human Tribe Project is a free website that allows friends and family to unite, raise funds and show support for a loved one during a health crisis. At humantribeproject.com, you can create a Tribe Page, purchase Tribe Tags and financially and emotionally support your loved one.
Please visit our Tribe Page at http://humantribeproject.com/tribes/nolles-blessed-tribe?invitation=64T1bdt9NhnmrCa to purchase Tribe Tags and begin showing your support today.

Thanks,

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN

Tell everyone about God’s power. His majesty shines down on Israel; his strength is mighty in the heavens. God is awesome in his sanctuary. The God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!
Psalm 68:34-35, NLT

Some of you know that I went in for an MRI of the brain and a CAT Scan of the chest/abdomen/pelvis regions this past week. Well, I have good news everybody. Your prayers are working!!!!!!! Like we even doubted . The CAT Scan showed that the chemo I’m currently on (Gemzar) and the Herceptin have CONSIDERABLY reduced in size. AND there are no new tumors. YEAH!!!!! So we are going to continue with the chemo/Herceptin treatment until God tells to stop.

Now, with the MRI of the brain, they did see some brain and nerve damage which is caused by the necrosis (tissue death) we talked about during the second radiation to the brain stem. But, I felt the risks of side effects far outweighed not choosing to have the radiation on the brain stem. They did say necrosis would start to show up 6 months to a year after my last radiation treatment and it’s that time. They are weaning my off the steroids, so they can accurately see what is necrosis and what is not. Now……..are you ready for the Miracle part of this…….are you sitting down? Here goes………………………

The two tumors, including that big on in the brain stem are COMPLETELY GONE!!!!! There is absolutely no sign of them anywhere. They even did the scan on the same machine and compared it to the last one I had in December. December…..Tumors. February……..NO Tumors!

I AM COMPLETELY CANCER FREE OF THE BRAIN

PRAISE GOD! I’M NOT IN REMISSION…..I AM CANCER FREE!

There are no signs of any tumors or cancer in my brain. Please worship and praise the Lord with me and please continue to pray for the cancer in my chest/lungs/neck/armpit/lymph nodes. God is so good and I so hope you get to know Him (if you don’t already) like I do because He is awesome, loving, freeing, gracious, merciful, awe inspiring, my king, my savior, my husband, my everything. I love Him.

Long time, but I haven't forgot.....

I'm truly sorry for that fact that I haven't posted anything since September. A lot went on throughout that time.

October was all about severe bone and joint pain, The Dr.'s put me on a pain regimen
The Dr.'s put me on a pain regimen that kept the pain tolerable. Unfortunately it wasn't up to par.

In November the pain ensued, but I was determined to push through it. I was have Thanksgiving for 13 people and it was aweomse. However, trying to get my house back on Friday was hard for me to do. I slept mostly all day Saturday, seriously! I was still taking my pain regimen, but I wasn't drinking enough water because I felt sleep was far better for me.

In the end, I suffered from dehydration which inturn cause renal failure. I was in the Hospital for 2 and a 1/2 weeks while they treated me for "medibolic encephlopathy".

While in thehospital, my medical oncologist saw me every day to check up on me. That is the time when I actually asked him how long did he think I had. At that time 6-9 months. And just the other day he told 6-7 months. I tried to not let it sink into my conscience, it did. But God is ever faithful for he gave me scriptures to fight that feeling of fear.

According to the Bible, my days are numbered as are everyone else’s, with only GOD knowing the actual time and place. That is why I encourage people to live each day as if it were your last as I try to do.
This mentality has reshaped my outlook during this endeavor. The Dr.’s are 6-7 months left, and God is promising something else. To reconcile these two battling ideas, God gave me these scriptures to help my fear. It’s a wonderful feeling now that I know what it is to have our days numbered. And the fear is fading away.

II Kings 20:5
Thus sayeth the Lord, “I have heard your prayer, [and] I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you”

On a different matter, I need some serious praying please!!!!! While I was in the hospital in late November, early December I was in ICU beause not only for the renal failure, but my blood pressure was dongerously low (76/43) and they kept trying all the different heart medicines to bring it up, but after three day of in and out of conscienceness and hallucination as well I was done. But I was determined to be discharge.

When I returned home I realized I missed my Cobra payment because I was tied with other things when it was due. So, as of November, December, & January I have't been able to take my Herceptin drug or my chemo because I don't currently have insurance.

We are in the appeals process, because you can get the denial overturned for extremely exestential circumstances. We should know by tomorrow (Friday) or early next week. Out contact person at the insurance company seems very encouraged by how thngs are looking on his side.

So I am aksing for favor and success on getting back on COBRA and restarting chemo!

Thank you so very mu for all your encouragement, prayers, and support. God Bless you!

Please Specifically Pray for Me

It's me again. I finished the radiation to the brain stem yesterday....YEAH! And I cannot properly express my thanks to all the people who blessed me with rides to my two-a-day appointments! What a Godsend!

I spoke to Dr. Tannehill after my last appointment yesterday. I had some difficult questions to ask of him and the answers were more or less disappointing, to say the least. Hence, this blog entry.

Back in March of this year I finished my first initial brain radiation treatments. They targeted the whole brain at that time. My first scan afterwards was in May and showed a reduction in the main large tumor by half. Awesome! Was incredibly pleased. However, in August, I had another scan and it showed that the tumor had not only grown back to the original size, it had incorporated itself into my nerve bundles in my brain stem. It looked like a jellyfish type parasite taking over my brain stem. NOT GOOD.

Now, if you weren't aware, you are not supposed to radiate the same tissue twice. It increases the risk of necrosis (tissue death). Dr. Tannehill said that if you polled all the radiation oncologists in the country, about 70% would not have done the second round of radiation to my brain stem. The risk would be too high. Scaredy-cats. :-)

For me, I didn't hesistate at all. I agreed to it. All these treatments that I have been through the last 18 months straight have risks. If I didn't take them, it would be like giving up! I'm not a quitter. I trust God to take me when He is ready, not when the Dr.'s or treatments say.

Anyway, let's get back to the issue at hand. You see, I believe my tumor has responded to the second round of radiation, just like it did after the first round. The problem is, if let's say, in three months it has grown again, they cannot radiate it again. It's also in-operable because of how it has entangles itself around the nerves.

Needless to say, I may be out of options. Most, if not all chemos, don't cross the blood brain barrier. I've been on Herception for a year now which is an antibody to kill the HER2 protein. And then I was put on Tykerb, the only other HER2 fighting drug which was supposed to cross the blood brain barrier. Obviously, the Tykerb did not work.

However, my medical oncologist is running a clinical trial on an experimental drug for HER2 positive patients, where, while on Herceptin, the cancer has spread. This hopefully will be an alternative to Tykerb for future HER2+ patients. In order for me to qualify for this trial though, my cancer has to be stable (not growing or spreading). And because it is an experimental drug, they don't really know if it will cross the blood brain barrier. I'm hoping it does.

So, all that to say, could you please specifically pray that:

1). My tumor in the brain stem does not grow AT ALL. And if it does, it grows INCREDIBLY SLOW. :-)
2). That I qualify for the clinical trial.
3). That the experimental drug is a success at fighting HER2+ cancer AND crosses the blood brain barrier.

I really appreciate all of you helping me in prayer. And don't worry, I'm going to try anything they are willing to throw at me, regardless. I won't quite fighting.

All my love and God Bless you!

Round 3......Here we go AGAIN!!!!

Well, I got the results today of my most recent CAT Scan and MRI and they were not good. The tumor in my left lung has grown in size and I have multiple new tumors in my chest and my left armpit.

As for the tumors in my brain, the one in the right temporal lobe still has not changed (which is good). However, the large tumor in my cerebellum has grown. In fact, it has gone into the brain stem. This is serious because it's not just a tumor with definite edges. It has shadowy edges and tendrils that branch out like a jelly-fish and it has entangled itself with the nerve bundles in the brain stem.

The danger is, I've already exposed my brain stem to radiation. If I treat this tumor with Gamma-knife, Cyber-knife, or the other surgical radiation it will expose the brain stem with too heavy a dose and can cause necrosis. Necrosis is where tissue dies. Now the hard part is trying to figure out how much radiation to kill the tumor, but not damage the brain stem.

The risk is necrosis can kill the whole brain stem or parts of it. If the whole brain stem is affected, you cannot survive it. If only a partial area is affected by necrosis, then it can result in stroke and seizure like symptoms (e.g. seizures, paralysis, inability to speak or walk).

So, the specialist I spoke with suggested that we reduce the radiation to a smaller amount and treat the whole brain stem twice a day for 15 days (Usually Gamma-knife, etc., is 3 to 4 treatments at a very high dose). Hopefully, the small doses of radiation will limit the amount of damage to the brain stem. And since there are no definite edges it will get everything, including the tendrils.

After radiation is done, I will start a new chemo (for the fourth time!) because the Tykerb apparently did not work for me. Which, in itself is a blessing because it came in pill form and my insurance considered it a prescription, not a treatment. And according to my health insurance, my portion for prescriptions is 40%. So, I was paying $1,300 a month for this one chemo pill. Hopefully this new chemo is an infusion and not a pill. If it's an infusion, then it is 100% covered. I'll know more about that after radiation comes to a close.

Anyway, that catches you up to speed with my day today. I hope yours was better! :-) I'm still thanking God for his grace and peace He has given me. I'm content and peaceful with being in God's hands. I trust Him and His will for me. God bless you all for your support, prayers, and encouragement. I am greatly appreciative.

N~

God is Great!!

God is so awesome! He heard your prayers and answered them! I have no new tumors and the existing tumors are shrinking! The problem is with my brain shunt. The setting got too low and it's draining too much spinal fluid and it's making my brain drop onto the spinal chord causing the nausea and severe headaches. I go in on Monday to get my shunt adjusted to the right setting and things should start to look up again.

How awesome is that. I'm telling you, put your faith in God and He will not disappoint. Holy are you Lord and Thank you, thank you, thank you. All of you who prayed....thank you.

All my love and blessings,
Noelle

Asking for prayer...

For the past week or so, I've been suffering non-stop nausea and severe headaches. I've also been having problems with my vision, abdomen pain, and pelvic pain. I saw the doctor yesterday and he scheduled a emergency MRI of the brain and CT Scan of the chest/abdomen/pelvic regions for tomorrow.

I'm asking prayer for wisdom, accuracy in the tests, and for God's will to be done. I'm asking for the doctor's to have supernatural wisdom about my results and to prescribe a treatment that will alleviate my symptoms.

Thank you again for all your prayers and support. I really couldn't get through all this without the Lord and my King and Saviour and your prayers lifting me up everyday!

God Bless,

Noëlle

What the Lord has spoken to me....

Family and Friends,

I have been blessed with so many scriptures the Lord has given me that have kept my spirits up and have given me hope regarding the cancer I'm fighting. I would like to share those scriptures with you so that the Lord's word can be hidden in your heart and will give you hope as well.

Deut. 30:19-20
“Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. And that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life, and He will give you many years in the land He swore to [you].”

You see the Lord has promised me a husband and I take the last line as confirmation that He has many years planned for me and my future family! The Lord is my life and He never breaks his promises.

Psalm 41:2,3
“²The Lord will protect him and preserve his life…”
“³The Lord will sustain him on his sickbed and restore him from his bed of illness.”

The Lord gave me this scripture just the other day. How reassuring is that! Praise God.


When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer, I asked the Lord to give a scripture to hold on to. I randonmly opened my Bible to John Chapter 11. As I began to read the story of Lazarus, I realized what it meant for me and my life.

You see, I feel the Lord telling me the cancer is not a sickness unto death, but to reveal the Glory of GOD! As the world might see the cancer diagnosis, especially the brain and lung, as a death sentence, I don't. I see it as an opportunity to show God's glory and love to everyone, believers and non-believers alike. The cancer may look like death or that I'm going to die, but the Lord has promised me victory over this. And by His grace, love, and mercy, He will reveal Himself to people through this season.

I know the scripture below is long, but I encourage you to read it and hold on to it like I have. May God be revealed to you in new ways through this season.


John 11:1-44

The Death of Lazarus
11:1 Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived. 11:2 (Now it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and wiped his feet dry with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 11:3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, look, the one you love is sick.” 11:4 When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not lead to death, but to God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 11:5 (Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.)
11:6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he remained in the place where he was for two more days. 11:7 Then after this, he said to his disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 11:8 The disciples replied, “Rabbi, the Jewish leaders were just now trying to stone you to death! Are you going there again?” 11:9 Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If anyone walks around in the daytime, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 11:10 But if anyone walks around at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
11:11 After he said this, he added, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. But I am going there to awaken him.” 11:12 Then the disciples replied, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 11:13 (Now Jesus had been talking about his death, but they thought he had been talking about real sleep.)
11:14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 11:15 and I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 11:16 So Thomas (called Didymus) said to his fellow disciples, “Let us go too, so that we may die with him.”

Speaking with Martha and Mary
11:17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been in the tomb four days already. 11:18 (Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 11:19 so many of the Jewish people of the region had come to Martha and Mary to console them over the loss of their brother.) 11:20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 11:21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 11:22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will grant you.”
11:23 Jesus replied, “Your brother will come back to life again.” 11:24 Martha said, “I know that he will come back to life again in the resurrection at the last day.” 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies, 11:26 and the one who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 11:27 She replied, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who comes into the world.”
11:28 And when she had said this, Martha went and called her sister Mary, saying privately, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.” 11:29 So when Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 11:30 (Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still in the place where Martha had come out to meet him.) 11:31 Then the people who were with Mary in the house consoling her saw her get up quickly and go out. They followed her, because they thought she was going to the tomb to weep there.
11:32 Now when Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 11:33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the people who had come with her weeping, he was intensely moved in spirit and greatly distressed. 11:34 He asked, “Where have you laid him?” They replied, “Lord, come and see.” 11:35 Jesus wept. 11:36 Thus the people who had come to mourn said, “Look how much he loved him!” 11:37 But some of them said, “This is the man who caused the blind man to see! Couldn’t he have done something to keep Lazarus from dying?”

Lazarus Raised from the Dead
11:38 Jesus, intensely moved again, came to the tomb. (Now it was a cave, and a stone was placed across it.) 11:39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, replied, “Lord, by this time the body will have a bad smell, because he has been buried four days.” 11:40 Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God?” 11:41 So they took away the stone. Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you that you have listened to me. 11:42 I knew that you always listen to me, but I said this for the sake of the crowd standing around here, that they may believe that you sent me.” 11:43 When he had said this, he shouted in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 11:44 The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped around his face. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”


God Bless You All,
Noelle

I realized I haven't given and update....

I finally finished the full brain radiation treatments on Monday. They will wait 2-3 months for the swelling to go down and the radiation to get fully out of my system before they will do another MRI scan of the brain. This is so they can get the most accurate scan possible. Once I have the scan done, they will see what is left of the tumors and at that point will, if need be, start what is called Gamma Knife Radiation. GKR is a more accurate laser radiation which they will target the tumors specifically instead of the whole brain.

As for the lung cancer, well I don't know if you remember, but the cancer I have is HER2+ which makes it very aggressive. There are only two drugs that are FDA approved to treat HER2+ cancer. Herceptin, which I have been on since August of 2008. I'll continue that for a year and stop it August 2009. The other drug is Tykerb, which is specifically for stage 4 metastatic HER2+ cancer that has spread to the brain and other major organs. Tykerb is known to actually be able to cross the blood brain barrier which chemo's and Herceptin fail to do. That is why most brain cancers are treated with radiation. Anyway, they are extremely optimistic with me being on both the Herceptin and Tykerb.

The Herceptin is an infusion in my port-catheter every three weeks. It takes about 2 hours. But, the Tykerb is a pill I'll take about 5 times a day. They will adjust it down to maybe 3 or 4 depending on how my body reacts to it. It has an apparent side effect with your GI system. But, once I find the right amount my body can tolerate, I'll be on that daily for an indefinite amount of time.
So, that's the plan. My spirits are strong and as long as I get sleep, I feel good.

God Bless,
Noelle