As a 21 year old senior in college at UW-La Crosse, I thought my life was all figured out: I would graduate, go to dental school, have a family, and live a long life. I never imagined how drastically my life would change in a matter of weeks.

In January 2024, I went in for a massage that changed my life. After I received this hour and a half massage, my hips and legs began to feel very weak. I went home and worked out, figuring that I was hurting due to the fact that I hadn’t moved enough that day. However, the pain only got worse. I scheduled another massage as it is common when receiving a deep tissue massage that your muscles get sore as the toxins are released. Thinking this was the case, I had the same massage. Instantly after, my hips and legs worsened and my brain was foggy. For the next few days, walking was hard and I found myself laying in bed for most of the day, which was very unlike me. Just four days after the second massage, I had to return to the University of Wisconsin- La Crosse (UWL) for the Spring semester. My younger sister, Lauren, thankfully was a freshman at UWL and drove us back to school.

On Friday, Lauren and I went for a morning walk and had a cup of coffee. By the time I returned to my apartment, I felt horrible. I took a shower and instantly found myself on the toilet puking. Not having puked in over 10 years from sickness, I was so confused. Friday through Saturday, I couldn’t keep any food or water down. My body was so weak and the smell of food made me completely nauseous. I spent the weekend in my bedroom and saw no one other than my roommates and my sister. The following Monday classes started. Being too weak to go, I skipped classes. Trying to figure out what was going on, I went to see a nurse on my colleges campus. I was only offered pain medication, but no indication of what was happening to me. Denying the medication, I left there with no answers. That week, I skipped all classes Monday through Thursday and went to get an IV infusion of vitamin C. At this point, I was still thinking this pain was all muscular. By Friday, I felt so guilty for skipping class that I went. It was the worst 2 hours of my life: my legs and pelvis were in so much pain and my brain couldn’t comprehend any of the information in front of me. That was probably the most scary thing as I had never experienced that before. That weekend, on Saturday night, I felt a pain trickle up my spine into my neck. I felt stiff and as though I couldn’t move. That night, the pain sharpened and I knew that things were only getting worse. I called my parents, and they told me I had to come home.

I was home for two days before going to Urgent Care. When I was there, they said that I had to go to the Emergency Room as there was nothing they could do for me there. In the ER, I took a CT scan. At this point, I knew it was not just muscular pain. Trying to conjure up ideas of what this could be, we figured it was kidney failure. As I was sitting in the hospital bed, the ER doc came in, and the Spirit of God was with me in that moment as I knew she was going to say it was cancer. Her words to me and my parents were, “We found cancer, and it’s bad”. After she told me that she found bone lesions on the CT scan, all I replied to her was, “I am going to be okay.” I was not fearful, I knew that no matter what, I was going to make it out of this.

About a week later, my official diagnosis and prognosis came in: it was Stage 4 rhabdomyosarcoma and treatment was palative. My metastases were all over my body: in my bone marrow in my femur, pelvis, spine, scapula, ribs, and humerus and I had bone lesions. It was the worst diagnosis I could have received, and the road to complete remission I was told was essentially an impossible shot in the dark.

My family and I had knowledge of a medical clinic called Sanoviv in Playas De Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico. I went there in early February and was there for 3 weeks doing treatments from 7:00am to 6:00pm. It was long days and super long nights, but at the end of my time there, my primary tumor shrank 20% and no bone lesions got worse and some improved. I didn’t do any chemotherapy and did 5 rounds of minor radiation on my pelvis. I did an amazing immunotherapy, full body hyperthermia, regional hyperthermia, hyperbaric oxygen chamber, mind-body therapy, lots of IVs, and craniosacral and lymphatic massages. Also when there, they fed me only organic low glycemic foods.

Because my bone marrow was so heavily affected by cancer, my doctor at Sanoviv advised that I do chemotherapy in the United States. Following his recommendation, I started a chemotherapy regimen 3 days after coming home from Mexico. The standard treatment protocol was 42 weeks of chemotherapy with radiation on my primary tumor (which was behind my rectum) for 6 weeks every day starting at week 12. Radiation would have left me in a devastated position as I would’ve been left infertile, going through menopause, being required to use a vibrator to keep my vagina from closing, and likely needing a colostomy bag. I knew this was not how I wanted to live, so I denied radiation. During the time of chemotherapy, I took what I learned from Sanoviv and applied it to my life. I did meditations daily to focus on my emotional health, I did reiki, acupuncture, did foot detoxes, and saw a mind-body therapist (I like to call her a soul therapist) all to deepen my spiritual connection and cleanse my body, and I continued to eat organic, low glycemic foods.

Within 11 weeks of starting chemotherapy and only 9 actual treatments of chemo, my PET scan, MRI scan, and bone biopsies all came back negative. I did one final round of chemotherapy and stopped all treatment and did not go forward with the radiation. I went back to Sanoviv in the end of July, doing the same treatments I did the first time I was there.

I am now in a position that my doctors never have seen. I completely healed my Stage 4 cancer in 4 months. Every cancer story is different, and I want to help empower others to follow their intuition with their journey. I had been denying my intuition all my life, but during these hard months of my life, I have finally learned to listen to it. I have learned through this time that we are made to heal. No matter the way you need to get there, you can heal. Since this journey, my goals and plans in life have shifted away from going to dental school to now focusing on inspiring others. I hope you can find hope and inspiration here and I pray for your healing and that some things on the website will with resonate with you and can help kick start your healing journey. God is carrying you through this journey, He has not abandoned you, and I hope you can find peace with and in Him as you navigate through this difficult journey.

With love,

Ellie