Death Was Not An Option‪!‬

On December 18, 2009, Marcy Layman woke up to excruciating abdominal pain, and I rushed her to Swedish Emergency in Issaquah, Washington. After an hour of blood tests and ultrasound treatments, I was instructed to take her to a Swedish hospital in downtown Seattle. Three hours of testing later, we were given the news that Marcy had contracted stage IV inoperable pancreatic cancer and had three to six months to live.

This journal will take you on a two-year spiritual, medical, nutritional, emotional, and, in some cases, humorous journey while we were finding stronger love and friendship between ourselves and the search for a cure for this insidious disease. Marcys courageous fight against this apocalyptic disease and casting away the Grim Reapers shadow that crossed our doorstep on seven different occasions have inspired a plethora of people.

Some people walk through the world and never see it. Marcy was not one of those people. She was interesting and always curious to learn new things. She was funny, loving, and truly creativethe most cherished and giving friend that God, for some reason, saw fit to bless us with. We always question why we were so lucky, and she was absolutely devoted to her family. Marcy didnt just talk her religionshe lived it.

For the next twenty-five months, there were fifty chemo treatments; different drugs, both pharmaceutical and naturopathic; and natural remedies from the Middle East, including teas, mushroom, and spices. No rock was left unturned; no treatment or drug was not explored as an option; we educated ourselves about the disease and all the cures and contacted the top cancer institutes in the country, exploring any and all options possible.

In the two-plus years that I was Marcys caregiver, there were a lot of rhetorical questions that I asked and had in my mind as I found out there were answerssome of which I liked and some I didnt like. I immediately started to look for answers for what this disease was and why it contracted my lovely bride. I looked for cures over and beyond what the doctors told us and tried to explore every option possible. There is a multitude of questions about cancer, and in this book, you will find many answers. We knew one thing, thoughdeath was not an option!